Minot council prioritizes public safety as budget shortfall forces reserve use discussion

The Minot City Council continued its multi-day budget review on a third day of hearings focused on the city manager’s recommended budget, with council members repeatedly naming public safety and employee compensation as top priorities and finance staff flagging a budget gap that will require either cuts, deeper use of reserves or capturing the state’s 3% allowance.

City Manager Herold told the council, “my plan is to present my recommended budget at the city council meeting on the 20 first,” and warned that "without capturing the full 3%, we're gonna have over another million dollars in cuts to make." Finance Director David Lakefield reported that the current flat-scenario budget still shows “a delta of a little over $1,700,000” and said the draft relies on substantial reserves: “we are utilizing just under $13,000,000 in reserves in this budget.”

Those numbers framed much of the discussion. The council spent the session weighing where to accept risk, what core services to protect and whether to reallocate existing sales-tax capacity to public safety rather than pursue new levies.

Alderman Olsen said her “first priority is public safety,” and argued against eliminating positions except through attrition and careful review of impacts. Aldrin Blessum told the council the process has improved transparency and said the city has “not had a revenue problem. We've had a spending problem,” urging staff and council to use reserves and buy-downs judiciously. Alderman Scott proposed a sales-tax reallocation approach, saying the council should “take the first penny of our sales tax and take the property tax relief portion, the economic development portion, and the improvements portion, and make that a public city or public safety sales tax.”

Council members also debated compensation approaches for city employees. Several members voiced support for competitive pay to retain staff and for targeted, performance-based increases rather than an across-the-board raise. Alderman Pitner said he was "hot and cold" on merit pay and wanted more information before a change, while other council members said that certain high-performing staff need higher increases than a small uniform raise would provide.

Infrastructure maintenance, equipment replacement and training also featured in remarks. Council members warned that deferring investment can raise long-term costs and discussed funding for a vehicle/equipment replacement fund (VERF). The city manager said the proposed VERF plan would fund known 2026 replacement needs and that council members may be asked to use reserves to seed the fund.

Finance and timing details remained unsettled. Mr. Lakefield said half of the reserves currently earmarked in the draft are restricted for NAS and Flood Control purposes and therefore not freely available, and reminded the council of recent reserve usages of roughly $2.9 million and just over $2.0 million in prior years. The city manager said he expects to recommend a budget that reflects the cost of services the city provides and that the council will make policy and political choices thereafter.

The council directed city staff to continue refining the recommended budget and to provide materials to the public; the city will publish budget materials and short explanatory videos on the city website. The meeting concluded with the city manager and finance staff scheduled to return with a formal recommended budget and additional detail on options for addressing the identified shortfall.