Upland council reviews midcycle adjustments to FY25–26 budget, schedules CIP workshop

At a special workshop May 19, the Upland City Council received a presentation on proposed mid‑cycle adjustments to the city's fiscal year 2025–26 budget from Assistant City Manager Stephen Parker and Finance Manager Stacy Sullivan.

The revisions leave the general fund with a projected net positive position of $180,490 while reallocating reserves and identifying several new estimated costs and personnel changes. "The item before you today is the proposed mid cycle fiscal year 25-26 budget," Sullivan told the council.

The mid‑cycle changes include reserving $200,000 for expected unfunded actuarial liability (UAL) increases related to pension costs and another $200,000 for police personnel expenses tied to the dispatch division. The city also placed $329,637 into an infrastructure improvement reserve and identified department reductions and/or revenue increases totaling $520,726 to help offset a projected decrease in sales tax.

Sullivan said the city recommends increasing property tax and interest income projections over the original approved budget; "all of other revenues remain the same," she said. Council member Moss asked whether sales tax or property tax is the larger revenue source; Sullivan and Parker said both are the two largest general fund sources and together typically comprise about 75% of general fund revenue. Parker added that recent trends had sales tax briefly exceed property tax but that year‑to‑year shifts are possible.

Officials listed several other adjustments and clarifications. The city is working with a vendor to pass along a percentage fee for credit‑card usage for payments (planning, building, utilities); the timing and exact revenue impact are still being refined. The city is tentatively estimating a share of ongoing costs for a regional homeless shelter at $225,000, though Parker said the figure and timing were not finalized and that another estimate received was $308,000. Parker said the county has agreed to more than $20 million in capital for a shelter in the Fontana area and that ongoing operating costs would be shared among West End cities if the project moves forward.

An accounting correction in the gas tax fund was reported: just over $2,000,000 was entered twice (in both RMRA and gas tax) and will be corrected in the budget documents; city staff said the duplicate entries were not programmed for projects and the correction will not affect capital improvement planning. Parker noted an internal service fund reserve for IT of about $3.5 million and said the proposed adjustments would draw down roughly $330,000 from that reserve rather than reduce cybersecurity or firewall expenditures. "There's actually no reduction in the expenditure side," he said; the change is a shift in funding source.

Personnel changes recommended in the package include creating a management analyst position to assist the city manager's office and finance and removing a part‑time accountant role; staff said the new full‑time position is funded across multiple funds and has no net general fund impact. Additional public works staffing proposals and a personnel reclassification in finance will be presented to council at a future meeting.

Parker said the public works department will hold a special meeting June 2 to review the capital improvement program (CIP) and that finance will present recommended budget adjustments to public works at that time. The mid‑cycle final budget is scheduled for presentation to the council on June 9. Parker said the city's online transparency portal shows real‑time revenues and expenditures and will be expanded next fiscal year to include a CIP module so residents can track projects by neighborhood.

Council members asked that substantial changes to the roadway safety or five‑year plans be shared with council members in advance of public hearings so members are not viewing deletions or major adjustments for the first time at a meeting. Parker and staff said council will have access to the agenda and background documents in advance.

No formal motions or votes were recorded at the May 19 workshop; staff asked the council to "receive and file" the report or provide recommendations to be incorporated into the June 9 final report. The council set the June 2 public works staffing and CIP workshop and will reconvene for the next regular meeting on May 27.