Moses Lake city manager outlines 2026 budget proposals, strategic opportunities fund and department changes at workshop

City Manager Rob Carlinzi opened a special Moses Lake City Council budget workshop at 6:33 p.m., presenting department-by-department proposals and inviting council direction on the draft 2026 spending plan.

The session covered the City Council budget, the city manager’s office, the newly proposed strategic opportunities fund, a standalone city clerk division, human resources and technology services, and a summary of capital funds and the six‑year Capital Improvement Plan.

"This is a time for you to ask all the questions you want. Give us all the direction and guidance that you want," City Manager Rob Carlinzi said as he described the meeting’s purpose.

Why it matters: Staff described a budget framed to smooth internal service allocations and to shift a handful of line items between funds. The package seeks to preserve fund balances while funding several one‑time priorities — including downtown design work, infrastructure planning and grant match strategies — and to prepare the city for rising software and technology costs.

Major department highlights

- City Council: Madeline Prentice, the staff member who presented the council budget, told the council the proposed council expenses total $140,000, a 29.8% decrease mainly caused by moving the state lobbying contract out of the council budget and allocating it across three funds (city manager’s office, water fund and street fund). Supplies were increased to $5,000 to create a replacement budget for council iPads, and a $6,500 miscellaneous line was proposed for Sister City exchange gifts and quincentennial items. Prentice also said $1,500 is proposed for community recognition awards.

- City Manager’s office: Carlinzi said the proposed city manager budget drops about 17% year over year, primarily because the city clerk’s functions are being split into their own budget and because approximately $110,000 of lodging‑tax marketing costs are moving from the manager’s office to Parks & Recreation. Carlinzi also proposed moving the housing and grants manager into the city manager’s office and retitling that position assistant to the city manager; that person would continue grant and tax‑capture duties and take on emergency management and downtown revitalization responsibilities.

- Strategic opportunities fund: Staff proposed creating a restricted fund to hold one‑time proceeds from recent city property sales. Prentice said the fund would open with a beginning balance of $346,787 and the staff recommendation for 2026 is to use $35,000 for downtown conceptual work and $50,000 to fund preliminary design for Cinque Isle Square to position the city to seek grants such as Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and Recreation and Conservation Office (RCO) money.

- City clerk: With the city clerk absent, staff presented a first‑year standalone city clerk budget of $360,558 that includes records‑management consulting ($20,000) and codification of administrative policies ($10,000). Prentice said those consulting costs are intended to get the city into compliance and to position the city to apply for state documentation and preservation grants.

- Human Resources: "We will continue our implementation of the new HR payroll software with a target go‑live of January 2027," Shannon (HR) told the council. HR requested converting a 0.5 FTE temporary position to a regular 0.5 FTE to separate duties for audit purposes and support the Tyler Technologies implementation; the HR services line also includes proposed citywide staff training of $50,000.

- Technology services: The department seeks a modest net increase driven by higher software subscription costs, a rollout of a new phone system (planned December), and investments in backup/resilience equipment (a warm standby server and additional backup storage). Staff said new phone system costs will be budgeted temporarily in the technology fund for 2026 and then reallocated to departmental budgets in later years.

Capital funds and other funds

Staff walked council through capital and special funds, including parks, fire mitigation, transportation, water rights, well remediation, water and wastewater construction funds. Highlights included:

- Parks capital: Planned playground replacements and the Montlake bathroom project; staff proposed consolidating a completed Larson Recreation Center fund into the parks capital fund.

- Fire mitigation: Staff proposed spending $40,000 in 2026 for planning work toward a new fire station in the north end; staff said a donation of land is a possible location for that project.

- Street repair and transportation: The transportation CIP shows large activity in 2026, with staff projecting roughly $17.5 million in revenue and $18 million in expenditures for transportation projects; staff said nearly $10 million of the work is expected to be paid by grants already received or applications in progress.

- Water rights and well remediation: A water rights fund would open with planned 2026 revenues of $525,000 (including fee‑in‑lieu receipts). Staff proposed eventually consolidating the water rights and well remediation funds into the water capital fund to streamline tracking. A previously designated ARPA allocation for well remediation was moved back to the ARPA fund when contracts were not in place, staff said.

- Wastewater: Staff included a potential intergovernmental loan option to finance an emergency redundant force main; repayment would appear in wastewater operations as debt service if the loan is accepted.

Budget strategy and fund‑balance use

Madeline Prentice said the administration proposes using portions of several internal service fund balances in 2026 to smooth year‑to‑year allocations and avoid sharp spikes in departmental charges. She cautioned that this is a one‑time tactic that will make the 2027 budget harder to balance because the drawdown cannot be repeated.

Quotes and questions from council

Mayor Swartz and multiple council members pressed staff on specifics: how the B&O tax match would be increased to capture up to $250,000 of state credits, the scope and estimated size of Cinque Isle Square work (staff said a conceptual project might be on the order of several hundred thousand dollars pending design), and the mechanics of internal service fund numbering and allocations.

What the workshop did and did not do

The meeting was a workshop and staff repeatedly solicited council direction; no final citywide 2026 budget ordinance was adopted at the session. Staff said subsequent workshops and the council’s standard budget adoption calendar will provide additional opportunities to amend numbers, add or remove projects, and to refine the six‑year CIP and operations budgets.

Speakers quoted or reported

- Rob Carlinzi, City Manager (government) — presented overall budget approach and department highlights. - Madeline Prentice, budget presenter/staff (government) — presented department slides and line‑item changes. - Shannon (Human Resources, government) — presented HR staffing and training requests. - Lynn Lynch (communications lead, government) — described planned quarterly printed newsletter starting November. - Levi (Public Works engineer, government) — answered technical questions about CIP and project funding.

Clarifying details extracted from the workshop

- Proposed City Council expenses: $140,000 (29.8% decrease year‑over‑year, per staff). - City clerk first‑year proposed budget: $360,558. - Strategic opportunities fund opening balance (estimated): $346,787; proposed 2026 uses: $35,000 (downtown conceptual), $50,000 (Cinque Isle Square preliminary design). - Water rights projected 2026 revenue: $525,000; placeholder proposed water rights purchases: $500,000. - HR proposed citywide staff training: $50,000; ARPA‑funded implementation revenue for HR/finance: $25,000.

Community relevance

Geographies affected: downtown Moses Lake, Civic Park, Cinque Isle Square, Juniper Park, Longview Park, Nelson Road corridor, north‑end fire station area.

Next steps

Staff said the city will return with further budget workshops, a proposed budget ordinance and related appropriations. Several items — notably the six‑year CIP and any finalized uses of the strategic opportunities funds — will return to council for formal action.

Provenance

topicintro evidence: "So we are going to go and this is budget workshop number 2, technically." (excerpt from staff presentation announcing budget workshop)

topicfinish evidence: "So that's it for the budget presentation for this evening." (staff closing the budget presentation)