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Willows City manager outlines FY 2025‑26 budget gap, one‑time purchases and staffing requests
Summary
City Manager Martie Brown presented the draft FY 2025‑26 budget, projecting $7.3 million in revenue, $7.587 million in expenditures and a $214,000 gap to be covered by reserves, and outlined new one‑time purchases and staffing proposals including a $250,000 down payment on a fire engine.
City Manager Martie Brown presented the proposed fiscal 2025‑26 budget and a multi‑year forecast, telling the council she expects the city to begin FY 2025‑26 with just over $1 million in general‑fund reserves (a figure that includes the first quarter of Measure I collections, roughly $475,000).
Brown said projected general‑fund revenue for 2025‑26 is about $7.3 million and projected expenditures are about $7.587 million, producing a proposed $214,000 deficit and an anticipated June 30, 2026 ending fund balance of roughly $790,000 (about 11 percent of annual expenditures under current assumptions). "The projected deficit is 214,000," Brown said during the presentation.
The presentation listed recurring cost increases that affect the baseline: the sheriff's contract is expected to rise by roughly $335,000; union contract increases were estimated at about $100,000; health insurance and pension costs are also rising; and liability insurance will increase after updated appraisals. Brown also noted a previously approved extension of the municipal code update with an estimated $60,000 cost and other baseline increases totalling several hundred thousand dollars.
New or one‑time requests in the proposed budget include a $250,000 down payment for Fire Engine 2, a $50,000 estimate for a public‑works truck, $86,000 to replace the asphalt apron behind the fire station, a $50,000 Proposition 218 study for sewer rates, a Tyler Technologies utility module to bring billing in‑house, a full‑time administrative analyst (shared between community development/services and the fire department) with a pro‑rated first‑year cost of about $35,000, a part‑time seasonal public‑works worker ($6,000 for the first year), and $10,000 for a website update and ADA compliance work. Brown added a $4,000 increase to the library books budget at the council's request.
Brown and council members discussed the budget's structural picture: several councilmembers urged caution but supported the proposed one‑time purchases where staff argued they addressed deferred maintenance or critical equipment replacement. One councilmember said the proposed purchases and staff additions are "needed" and that delaying replacement of the engine was a risk to firefighters and the community; others emphasized the goal of rebuilding reserves toward a 25%–30% target over multiple years.
No final appropriations were adopted at the meeting; Brown said the numbers will be formalized in a budget presentation scheduled for a special council meeting on June 17 and that some items are one‑time costs that fall out of the forecast in subsequent years.
