Council approves midyear budget adjustments, adopts salary updates and sets June hearing on EMS fees; fees remain unchanged

Canyon Lake City Council approved midyear budget adjustments and two administrative resolutions, and set a public hearing on the city’s Emergency Medical Services subscription program for June 11, 2025, while keeping the current EMS subscription and per‑call rates unchanged.

The action came during a regular council meeting when the city attorney reviewed the EMS subscription program that the council created in 2019. Staff said the program is voluntary and that current annual subscription fees are $39; the EMS response fee per call is $13.56. Council directed staff to publish notices to subscribers in March and scheduled a public hearing for June 11 to adopt the proposed fees for fiscal year 2025–26 if the council elects to do so.

The council also adopted midyear budget adjustments proposed by the finance director and city manager. Staff reported that actual revenues and expected reimbursements are higher than the original adopted budget and identified approximately $344,000 in additional revenue sources, including a projected strike‑team reimbursement for fire deployments, a one‑time utility‑use tax payment, and insurance reimbursements. Council voted to recognize those budget changes and to increase the city’s projected revenues over expenditures accordingly.

On personnel and classification matters the council approved two resolutions (Res. No. 2025‑07 and Res. No. 2025‑08) that updated salary and wage schedules and added two revised job descriptions. Staff explained the administrative-services director position will be titled to reflect broader responsibilities (community development duties including building and planning), and the city clerk position will be designated administrative services/city clerk to reflect combined duties.

Votes at a glance: - Consent calendar: approved (unanimous roll call). - EMS program fees and public hearing: council set the hearing for June 11, 2025 and voted to keep the proposed fees at the current levels (vote recorded as unanimous). Staff will send notice to current subscribers in March and follow the opt‑in/opt‑out processes required by the program’s ordinance. - Midyear budget adjustments and personnel resolutions (Res. Nos. 2025‑07 and 2025‑08): approved (unanimous roll call). Staff said the budget adjustments incorporate estimated strike‑team reimbursements and other one‑time revenues; they also noted some expenditure changes (overtime increases tied to deployments) will be offset by the reimbursements.

Why it matters: The EMS subscription program is how the city funds part of its emergency medical response; keeping rates steady preserves the current subscriber structure while permitting public input at the June hearing. The midyear budget changes formalize reimbursement income from fire strike‑team deployments and other receipts, which affect reserve and operating projections for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The council’s next regular meeting is scheduled for March 12, 2025.