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Midway reviews FY2026 draft budget as transfers to capital fall
Summary
Council and staff reviewed the first draft of the FY2026 budget and flagged a shrinking year-end transfer to the CIP. Staff said prior years saw transfers of $1–2 million but the draft now projects roughly $153,000; members discussed revenue pressure from lower new-home counts and rising wage costs.
Midway City Council members and staff on Monday reviewed the first draft of the fiscal year 2026 budget and identified a materially smaller projected transfer to the city's capital improvement program (CIP).
Staff said the city historically moved large year-end surpluses into CIP 'sometimes $1 million to $2 million'but the current draft projects a transfer of about $153,000 if the budget is spent as written. Staff attributed the decline to a combination of slower development-driven revenue and higher wages and benefits.
The finance staff explained that general fund revenue is primarily taxes, licenses and permits, road money and reimbursements; any year-end excess typically is moved into CIP and PTIF accounts as a form of savings. Council members and staff noted that new-home projections have fallen from earlier years (examples cited: 83, 70 and 90 home-years previously compared with an assumed 60-home year in the draft), and that a further drop below 60 would reduce impact-fee revenue that helps fund CIP projects.
Councilors asked whether the city had been carrying project budgets forward in prior years rather than generating true surpluses; staff said both factors have operated: projects budgeted but not completed produced funds rolled into CIP, and some years had genuine year-end excess. The group discussed the difference between a one-year timing carryforward and a structural surplus.
Members asked staff to look for places to make conservative assumptions and to prepare for a tighter CIP: when asked what the city could reasonably expect to transfer to CIP this year if current trends hold, staff repeated the $153,000 estimate. Councilors instructed staff to continue refining revenue assumptions and to flag items that could be deferred or reduced to protect reserves.
Ending: Council agreed to continue revisions; staff will return with updated revenue estimates and proposed line-item adjustments at the next budget workshop.
