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Council reviews draft revised financial policies; utility rate study scheduled for FY26
Summary
Staff presented a revised set of financial policies aligned to GFOA best practices and told council the city will budget for a new utility rate study in fiscal year 2026.
City finance staff and the city manager presented revisions to the city’s financial policies intended to update and expand earlier guidance. Staff said the draft draws on Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) best practices and tailored those principles for St. Helens.
Key changes described include clearer criteria for System Development Charge (SDC) assessments and an explicit schedule for utility rate analysis. Finance staff said the current utility rate study will be the last under the existing schedule and that the city will budget during fiscal year 2026 for a new five‑year utility rate study. “This will be our last year of our current utility rate study that we’ll be budgeting accordingly, and then we will be budgeting in fiscal year 2026 to do a new revised rate study,” staff told council.
Councilors thanked staff for the thorough rewrite and noted the updated policies are more comprehensive than the older 2017–2018 materials. Staff said the draft policies were circulated with answers to council questions and that staff are available to brief councilors further before the resolution is adopted.
No vote was taken during the work session; staff recommended council review the draft resolution and return with any specific questions or edits.
