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Flagstaff proposals prioritize employee pay and one-time infrastructure spending; parental leave expansion deferred over cost
Summary
City staff presented a proposed FY25–26 spending plan that recommends $5.7 million in ongoing employee investments and $11.5 million in one-time general fund infrastructure projects while noting a proposal to expand parental leave was not advanced because of cost concerns.
City staff presented the Flagstaff proposed FY25–26 budget at a council briefing, outlining recommended investments in employee pay and one-time infrastructure projects while noting limits on available ongoing resources.
Brandy Suda, a staff member presenting the budget overview, said the city received $94.7 million in new budget requests across all funds and divisions and recommended roughly $49 million of those requests in the city manager’s proposed package. “Included in our recommended budget, employee investment in the general fund totaled $5,700,000,” Suda said, and she described $11.5 million in one-time general fund infrastructure investments.
The proposed general fund package would cover $2.8 million in merit and pay-for-performance increases and about $3.5 million in market adjustments, Suda said, and it does not include any primary property tax levy increase. Staff also recommended roughly $955,000 for fleet replacements, nearly $2.9 million for facility repairs and replacements including work at Jay Lively, and just over $2 million in design funds for new police and fire facilities.
The presentation described how the administration used a priority-based budgeting (PBB) process to evaluate requests against council-established community priorities. Heidi (staff member, budget team) said the PBB process helps the budget team compare and score requests but is only one tool in decision-making. She reported that roughly 79% of total requests scored in the “most” and “more” aligned categories, and the city manager’s recommendations fund a substantial share of the most-aligned requests.
Staff described how grant requests and multiyear projects affected the recommended funding schedule. Heidi said some large grant requests are multiyear and the city staged those amounts across fiscal years rather than booking the full grant award in the FY25–26 year.
Council members asked about employee benefits, including parental leave. Sarah (staff member) said the city’s current parental leave program is four weeks for both mothers and fathers and that peer governments typically offer about eight weeks. “We were looking to expand it to the full 12 weeks that’s covered by FMLA,” Sarah said, but a separate staff speaker said cost was a primary reason the expansion did not move forward; staff estimated roughly $500,000 to double existing leave in the general fund, and other larger expansion options were more expensive.
Staff noted the recommended budget also includes targeted one-time support to other funds: about $648,000 for water-resources infrastructure protection design, $500,000 to the housing fund, and $781,000 to airport facility and infrastructure needs. Suda said the proposed budget allocates most available ongoing resources to compensation and benefits and uses one-time reserves for infrastructure and other one-time projects.
The briefing closed with staff saying the recommendations reflect the budget team’s effort to align resources to council priorities and to preserve financial flexibility. Heidi turned the presentation to other staff for deeper detail on the most-aligned programs and specific departmental requests.
