Helena presents $112.1 million proposed FY26 budget; commissioners agree to boost Symphony payment

City Manager Andrew Burton and Director Danielson presented Helena's proposed fiscal year 2026 preliminary budget to the Helena City Commission on June 2, 2025. The proposal shows total revenues and transfers of about $105,170,000 and proposed appropriations and transfers of about $112,146,000, with one-time uses of reserves for certain capital and one-time purchases.

The proposed budget, Danielson said during the presentation, is balanced while using cash reserves only for one-time expenditures and capital. Key line items include roughly $42.2 million for personnel costs, about $20.1 million for capital outlay, and roughly $3.0 million for debt service. The proposal includes 3.38 net new full-time equivalents: a half FTE in the city clerk's office, 0.8875 FTE in the police department for courthouse reserve officers, and two street operator positions.

Why this matters: the preliminary budget sets staffing levels, capital plans and the city's near-term borrowing and service priorities. Commissioners must adopt a preliminary budget and may amend it before final adoption.

Major details and items discussed

- Reserves and one-time funding: The draft uses about $1,986,000 of general fund reserves for one-time items, plus an additional $240,000 requested by a commissioner that was noted for inclusion. The projected ending general fund balance is about $9.59 million, with $4.7 million in operating reserve and $2.5 million in contingency, Danielson said.

- Capital and bonds: No new debt proceeds were built into the FY26 proposal at the time of the presentation, though officials said a planned fire bond is in process; when that bond closes staff will bring a budget adjustment to incorporate bond proceeds. Recent water and wastewater bonds closed in May were noted (about $4.1 million for water and about $1.3 million for wastewater), with initial draws expected to carry into FY26 as carryovers.

- Rates and fees: The FY26 budget includes water and wastewater rate increases that took effect in January 2025, the Civic Center tipping fee increases, and planning-fee adjustments previously adopted by the commission. Staff said a rate review for water and wastewater is planned for the fall and any changes would appear in later-year budgets.

- Wages and labor: The budget includes a cost-of-living adjustment of 2.5 percent for employees, a figure the commission had given consensus on; three labor contracts remain open and the fire contract is scheduled for arbitration in the fall, so final bargaining outcomes could alter labor costs.

- Sustainability funding: The proposal includes approximately $243,500 for sustainability-related projects; staff said roughly $96,000 of that would go to the renewable energy loan fund to increase available loan capacity, about $80,000 would be earmarked for a glass-crusher pilot, and the remainder would be allocated later after additional information is provided to the commission.

- Community partner funding: The commission discussed a request from the Helena Symphony to raise the city's annual contribution from $5,000 to $10,000 because of rising event costs. Four of five commissioners indicated they would support adding $5,000; staff said that consensus would be incorporated into the preliminary budget to be adopted on June 16.

Commission and public remarks

Commissioners and staff framed the budget as the product of months of work across departments, the Helena Citizens Council and the public. Commissioner comments praised staff work and asked for better advance notice to community recipients when possible; one commissioner expressed reluctance to add the Symphony funding because that request was larger than increases for other partners and because the Symphony has received other public funds recently.

Next steps and timeline

The commission received the city manager's proposed FY26 preliminary budget on June 2 and voted to accept the proposal for further consideration. The formal preliminary budget resolution and opportunity for amendments and public hearing are scheduled for the commission meeting on June 16, 2025. Final adoption will follow the statutorily required process for preliminary and final budgets.

Ending

Staff said they will bring any agreed adjustments (including the $5,000 Symphony increase) into the preliminary budget on June 16, and will present carryover and bond-proceeds adjustments as the fire bond and other financing items are finalized.