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Budget office rolls out new planning system and timeline for FY26; wage study due mid‑April, finance using AI cautiously
Summary
Budget director Michael Thompson said the county’s new EPM budgeting system is live and departments will feed FY26 requests in February; Director of Human Resources Gerald Thornton said the wage-study report is expected April 16; finance staff and the trustee said they are using AI tools in limited, audited ways.
Michael Thompson, Shelby County Director of Budget and Fiscal Planning, told the Budget & Finance Committee that the county’s new enterprise performance-management (EPM) planning and budgeting system is live and that the county will use the system to assemble a proposed FY26 operating budget of about $1.6 billion and a capital-improvement program exceeding $1 billion.
Thompson outlined a multi‑phase budget calendar: revenue-projection requests to departments on Jan. 27, the first budget subcommittee meeting on Jan. 29, department budget input and CIP requests in February, and consolidation through March. The mayor’s proposed budget is scheduled to be presented April 30, with commission consideration and a target adoption in June.
Thompson said the county will work with the assessor and trustee on revenue projections and certified rates as those items are finalized. He said the county’s ERP system is scheduled to go live July 1 and that budget staff will open the new EPM to departments in early February.
On payroll and compensation planning, Thompson said payroll is the largest single expenditure and that the administration will factor a forthcoming wage study into consolidation rather than omit late-arriving critical information. Gerald Thornton, Director of Human Resources, said the study’s report is expected by April 16, 2025.
Thompson and other officials confirmed limited, cautious use of artificial intelligence inside finance and budgeting. "We are currently using AI," Thompson said, adding that staff are mindful of proprietary information and are using audited tools. Trustee Regine Newman said the trustee’s office uses a website chatbot but has otherwise focused on implementing a new tax system scheduled to go live in March.
Commissioners asked about contingency plans if the state-certified tax rate arrives late; Thompson said finance has prepared fallback proposals and will propose a rate that can be adjusted if trustee system constraints limit the number of digits the trustee can accept. He told commissioners the finance team has prepared for those possibilities given past cycles and system limits.
Thompson also thanked IT and consultant teams and said the new systems should increase transparency and reduce manual workload in the long term. He invited departments and commissioners to use the budget subcommittee process to vet ideas and surface questions before regular meetings so the commission can move efficiently during formal budget hearings.
