Finance committee recommends budget that meets 25% reserve goal, recommends certified tax rate drop to 1.3204

The McMinnville Finance Committee voted to recommend the proposed 2025 budget and to forward a revenue-neutral certified tax rate of 1.3204 to the full board, finance staff said at a committee meeting.

Samantha (finance staff) told the committee the proposed general fund ends the fiscal year with an estimated cash balance of $5,167,062, or 25.1% of expenditures, meeting the committee’s 25% reserve goal. “That is 25.1%, and I'm proud to say that. Our goal was 25%, so we are there,” she said during the presentation.

The committee’s recommendation keeps an operating deficit in the proposed budget (Samantha gave an updated figure of $273,453) while proposing more than $1 million in capital expenditures. The package includes a cost-of-living adjustment for all employees of 2% and a step increase (3%) for employees hired before April 1, and the city will absorb up to a 5% health-insurance increase, the budget presentation said. The proposal also increases the city’s contribution to the legacy TCRS pension pool by 1 percentage point — from 17.4% to 18.4% — to reduce an unfunded liability staff listed at about $3,129,813.

Committee members discussed how those personnel and pension decisions interact with other cuts in operating and capital budgets. Samantha walked committee members through departmental cuts and unfunded capital needs across police, fire, parks and recreation, public works and other departments; the presentation included a list of roughly $5.45 million of identified operating and capital items that were not funded in this proposal.

Nut graf: The committee signaled it wants to hold reserves at a target level while advancing a mix of personnel cost increases and deferred capital work. The committee recommended the package to the full board and voted to forward the city’s certified tax rate of 1.3204 — a drop from the current 2.0997 — that is intended to keep revenue neutral for properties on the reappraised tax roll.

Other details: staff said many department budgets are close to current service levels. Capital items in the proposed capital projects fund total about $1,049,877, including radio upgrades for the fire department and police, a public-works dump truck, sidewalk work and theater equipment. The water and wastewater fund includes grant and loan proceeds for the new water-treatment plant and a three-phase rate study to run through construction and post-construction periods.

Votes at a glance: The committee voted to recommend the general fund and the following departmental budgets to the full board (motions to recommend carried in committee): administration, capital projects fund, police, fire, community development, public works, vehicle maintenance, animal control, parks and recreation, Park Theater, urban forestry, debt service fund, drug fund, street-aid fund, solid-waste fund, tourism fund, and the water/wastewater fund. Committee members also voted to forward the certified tax rate of 1.3204 to the full board.

The committee’s recommendation will go to the full board for first reading ahead of a public hearing at the second reading, with final adoption targeted before June 30.

Ending: Committee members and staff said the budget remains changeable at first reading; staff recommended that members review the packet and relay any requested changes before the full-board meeting.