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Columbus council reviews draft 2025–26 budget, including personnel changes and 2% COLA
Summary
Council reviewed the draft 2025–26 capital improvement plan, discretionary items and personnel changes, including a 2% cost-of-living adjustment and a reorganization that removes an administrative assistant position (approx. $100,000 savings) and shifts duties to parks and rec.
Columbus City Council members on Aug. 18 reviewed the draft 2025–26 budget, covering capital improvements, discretionary items and proposed personnel changes.
Staff presented the draft capital improvement plan and discretionary items and confirmed a proposed cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) of 2 percent. Key personnel proposals in the draft include not replacing a vacant administrative assistant (estimated savings of about $100,000), adding a director of general services, reallocating the public property director duties to park and recreation, creating a park-and-rec coordinator, converting the community coordinator role to a community building outreach associate (estimated savings of about $20,000), and promoting the project engineer to assistant city engineer. Library staffing items together result in a net increase of about $5,000; there is also a reclassification in wastewater collection that changes one utility maintenance worker position grade.
Council members had an opportunity to ask questions; staff noted these items are draft and depend on final valuation and revenue projections. The discretionary list also includes partial funding for fire apparatus (half of the cost allocated this year, with the remainder next year), and council discussed procurement timelines for long-lead items such as ladder trucks (estimated 14-month build time).
Why it matters: the personnel and discretionary choices affect the general fund and service delivery; staff estimated the net general-fund change from the listed personnel items at under $50,000 in the draft.
What happens next: these are draft items; staff will continue work on valuations and revenue forecasting before formal adoption.
