Council adopts FY2026 budget, approves emergency budget amendments and pay‑plan changes to meet state minimum wage

The finance director presented several fiscal measures tied to the end of the FY2025 cycle and the FY2026 budget. Council approved council bill 2025‑537, a budget amendment to ensure expenditures do not exceed appropriations, which staff summarized as increasing expenditures across all funds by $6,511,800 to cover items including audit costs, utilities, engineering transfers and pension gap costs.

Council then considered council bills 2025‑538 and 2025‑539 to adopt the FY2026 budget. Staff said the combined FY2026 budget estimates $167,735,758 in revenues (including transfers) and $185,222,302 in appropriations (excluding component units). Council discussed encumbrances and timing; votes to approve were recorded (some passed 8–0 with one abstention where noted because a councilmember declared a conflict of interest).

On personnel matters, council advanced pay plan updates to comply with Missouri’s new public‑employer minimum wage (House Bill cited by the finance director) raising the statutory floor to $15 per hour effective Jan. 1, 2026. Staff described a short‑term approach that removes certain lower steps in pay grades to raise starting wages: estimated short‑term costs were roughly $18,000 for general employees (FY26 cost ~$15,000 to the general fund) and $147,000 for fire plan employees (FY26 cost ~$122,500), with ongoing work planned to address compression and long‑term equity and funding.

Council approved the bills on emergency basis to have pay adjustments effective Nov. 1 and to meet fiscal‑year timing; council noted concerns about the frequency of emergency ordinances and asked staff to tweak scheduling and procurement timelines to avoid routine emergency placement when possible.