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Erie finance director presents conservative revenue scenarios, CIF requests and ballot options for next year
Summary
Finance Director Sarah Hancock presented revenue scenarios (constrained 3—% options), reviewed capital-improvement requests and $7.2M in active grants, and asked council for broad priorities (operations, capital maintenance, public safety, parks) to shape the 2026 recommended budget.
Finance Director Sarah Hancock and staff provided the council with a granular revenue and expenditure review and presented a new forecasting tool that applies tailored growth assumptions to discrete revenue streams instead of a single overall percentage. The team recommended conservative planning assumptions—scenario-based growth rates across different revenue lines that together produced an average constrained scenario of roughly 3—% depending on line items.
Key financial facts staff highlighted: the town has approximately $7.2 million in signed grant contracts currently active and several large capital requests in the capital improvements fund (CIF). Staff emphasized distinguishing between capital maintenance needs (street and concrete maintenance, parks maintenance) and new-capital or one-time projects. They showed that a significant portion of CIF requests are continuing projects and that street maintenance accounts for a large share of CIF budget in 2025.
Staff also reviewed bond- and ballot-related options. One approach discussed was a property-tax extension to maintain an existing rate (as Boulder Valley School District does) to generate a dedicated stream for parks/recreation or other broad priorities; another was using certificates of participation (COPs) for projects that are already near shovel-ready. Staff warned that debt-funded projects must be sufficiently advanced to comply with IRS arbitrage rules and typical three-year expenditure windows. The council discussed bundling projects (public-safety building plus other community facilities) and asked staff to return with modeled debt scenarios in January if the council wishes to pursue ballot measures for 2026.
Hancock asked the council to provide broad priority guidance for the budget (core operations, capital maintenance, public safety, parks, and new capital in that order) so staff can prepare a recommended budget by the statutory October 15 deadline. Council members reiterated the need to remain ready to pivot if revenue indicators—especially building permits and sales-tax collections—deteriorate materially during the fall and winter.
