Council presses administration on use of fund balance, chargeback reductions and a plan of 60 business‑day building closures

Council members pressed the administration about a suite of cost‑saving measures and the administration's plan to rely on internal fund balance to lower FY26 chargebacks for internal service funds.

The Office of County Administration and Finance summarized several near‑term savings strategies that, together, they estimate will reduce county expense pressure. Those include using fund balance in four internal service funds (health benefits, technology, risk management and fleet) to reduce chargebacks to user departments (estimated $8.9 million total), an expected reduction in plastics‑fee revenues, IT and mobile stipend reductions, vacancy freezes, and a plan to close selected county buildings on 60 business days to save energy, custodial and security costs (the administration estimated $400,000 in savings for building closures).

Several council members objected to relying on fund balance to cover recurring costs and to the idea of 60 business‑day closures (described as employees working remotely on those days). Councilmember comments stressed operational constraints (for example, council chambers and permitting offices must remain accessible for public meetings and services) and raised the perception risk of telework. The administration said closures would be days worked from home, not paid days off, and that many operational roles would be excepted; they said closures were chosen in part to reduce ramp‑up energy costs and would be scheduled primarily on Mondays and with office‑by‑office coordination.

Use of fund balance and internal service fund reserves: Budget staff said that rather than increase chargebacks fully this year, they plan to rely more heavily on reserves in FY26. The administration described that as a short‑term strategy in a year of competing priorities and said it is not sustainable long term. Council members asked for data on fund balances for each internal service fund and for a before/after list showing which fleet vehicles and IT replacements were deferred or accelerated.

Why it matters: Council members emphasized that using one‑time reserves to cover recurring charges shifts the problem to future budgets and reduces transparency on ongoing costs. They asked the administration to provide additional detail on which positions, services and grants are at risk if reserves are exhausted and how chargebacks will be restored in subsequent years.

Next steps: Administration agreed to provide a more detailed fund‑by‑fund breakdown of reserves used, the planned schedule and criteria for building closures, and a list of fleet reductions and deferred replacements tied to the expected savings.