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City finance office briefs council on November snapshot and proposed court‑salary changes
Summary
Finance staff gave a November financial snapshot showing timing‑related revenue swings across funds, noted several departments on a watch list for expenditures, and explained how House Bill 85 will change superior‑court judges' pay and locality contributions beginning in 2026.
Director Alexander presented a monthly finance report to council that compared November 2025 with November 2024 and highlighted timing issues in property‑tax receipts that make some fund comparisons appear negative when revenues were posted late. The snapshot showed general fund receipts would be up (about +6.4%) if October property taxes had been posted before the November close, while timing pushed some funds (stormwater, paving) into apparent declines that staff characterized as timing artifacts rather than long‑term trends.
Alexander noted a $37 million reserve in the community care fund and said staff had intentionally reduced the millage for that fund in FY26 because of the reserves. He listed operating funds with expenditure watch flags (city‑attorney litigation, human resources consulting encumbrances, public works payments, public defender and animal control contracts) and explained that some contracts are paid in advance, skewing year‑to‑date percentages.
On compensation, Alexander briefed council on methods used to compute elected‑official pay (state base, local acts, longevity, statutory supplements and cost‑of‑living adjustments). He summarized a pending statewide change (House Bill 85) that will reset superior‑court judge base pay effective Jan. 1, 2026, abolish many local supplements and create a $20,106 locality pay; Muscogee County’s current supplement share implies a roughly 54.3% locality contribution in the judges’ circuit, a figure staff said council will need to adopt in a mid‑year budget ordinance if the General Assembly enacts the change.
Council discussion emphasized handling future salary requests during the budget process and requested follow‑up on pension computation and exact locality‑pay percentages. The budget chair encouraged councilors to consider pay‑requests during scheduled budget sessions rather than approve ad hoc adjustments.
Representative quote: • "The state is increasing the base salary for the superior court judges to $201,060," Director Alexander said, summarizing changes in HB 85.
Ending: Council asked staff to prepare the impact analysis for mid‑year budget consideration and deferred any immediate salary changes until the formal budget cycle.
