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Ellsworth staff outline FY'27 budget calendar and new request process; Enterprise presents fleet-lease option
Summary
City staff presented the FY'27 budget calendar and a new online request form to front-load new budget asks; Enterprise summarized a lease program that grew the city fleet and could change replacement timing and cash flow needs.
Ellsworth — City staff reviewed the FY'27 municipal budget timeline and a proposed change to the budget workshop structure designed to surface new requests earlier in the process.
Staff said departments must submit budgets by Jan. 22 and the city aims to produce a budget book in late January. To help the council prioritize, staff proposed placing all new discretionary requests at the front of workshops so councilors can give early feedback before delving into operational-line items. The new online request form will allow outside organizations, commissions and departments to submit proposals and attachments; staff said the form will be posted and available via the city website.
Separately, Dustin Bouchard of Enterprise, introduced himself as the city’s client strategy manager for fleet and presented an open-ended leasing model his firm uses with municipalities. He reported the fleet grew from 26 to 47 vehicles since 2023, cited factory-order savings and said the lease residual model preserves cash flow and can return equity when vehicles are sold. Bouchard said the program reduces average holding period and can be forecasted to align with capital planning.
Councilors discussed consolidation of departmental budgets, how union negotiations and debt-service carries into next cycle, and the need to highlight new requests early in workshops. No formal budget approvals occurred; staff will incorporate feedback into the FY'27 schedule and return with proposals and the budget book.
