Reno council directs staff to advance FY26 tentative budget, freezes about 20 positions

The Reno City Council on May 5 directed staff to advance the city’s tentative fiscal year 2026 budget and fee schedule, approving a plan that balances roughly $321,000,000 of appropriations using about $9,500,000 in one‑time funds and a package of $16,000,000 in reductions.

City Finance Director Vicki Van Buren told the council the tentative budget uses the strategic plan to guide spending and relies on the “best information that we have at the time” while acknowledging volatile revenues such as sales tax and higher construction costs. She said, “This is where you determine where that money is funded to make the strategic priorities implemented.”

The plan directed by the council includes no new citywide positions for FY26, but retains two positions in the redevelopment agency; it preserves the city’s overall head count on the organizational charts while marking about 19.75 positions as frozen or unfunded. Van Buren estimated the city employs a little over 1,500 positions total and that about 80% of them are in the general fund.

Nut graf: The workshop emphasized matching limited revenues to core services. Leaders cited flattening revenue growth and sustained inflation as drivers of cuts; the council prioritized public safety and infrastructure while agreeing to use a mix of one‑time funds, fund balance and departmental reductions to balance the coming year.

Most significant choices: the proposed budget uses $5,000,000 of previously approved ARPA funds that were carried into the general fund, $1,500,000 from a SAD fund, $3,000,000 from capital projects that are complete or deferred, and about $2,600,000 of fund balance. The adopted tentative plan reduces contingency and annual capital maintenance allocations and tightens service and supply budgets, with departments asked to cut five percent for FY26 after an initial two percent reduction in the current year.

Council and staff debated several operational and policy impacts of the cuts. City Manager Bryant said the 90‑day pause on some boards and commissions is meant to buy staff time and evaluate whether the current engagement structure matches community needs; she said outreach will begin soon and “we’ll ascertain what the priorities are with a report.” Council members asked for additional detail on which positions are frozen and which services will be delayed.

Public safety, particularly fire and police staffing and fleet and facility maintenance, figured prominently. Van Buren told the council the general fund is heavily weighted toward police, fire and dispatch — roughly 65% of the general fund — and that salary and benefits now comprise about 81% of general fund spending. Fire apparatus replacement remains funded at roughly $8,000,000 over the coming years to keep the fleet near recommended ages; parks, buildings and other maintenance needs were identified as areas that will see deferred work.

Several council members pressed staff for greater detail on debt and deferred maintenance. Van Buren said the city will present deeper debt analysis at the next workshop and that some maintenance funding will be carried forward from unspent FY25 allocations to address emergent needs in FY26, but that year‑to‑year service delivery will be delayed.

The council approved the motion to advance the budget and fee schedule unanimously. Council also approved a related set of tentative policy moves: a temporary freeze on hiring for select vacancies, targeted reductions in discretionary member funds, and proposed eliminations of some organizational memberships (for example the Nevada League of Cities and the National League of Cities were proposed to be unfunded for FY26, while the Conference of Mayors remained funded).

The public comment period included a statement from Bill Shrimp, who urged the council to treat the budget as an expression of priorities: “Today, you’re talking about your budget. At the end of the day, a budget is about priorities,” he said.

Ending: Staff will bring a final budget and fee schedule back for adoption at the council meeting scheduled for May 21; the City must submit the adopted budget to the Nevada Department of Taxation by June 1. Council members directed staff to return with more granular debt and deferred maintenance analysis and with the results of the boards-and‑commissions outreach now scheduled to kick off within 90 days.