St. Clair Shores council approves fiscal 2026 budget amendments, creates committee fund

The St. Clair Shores City Council unanimously approved fiscal 2026 budget amendments that reclassify fringe benefits into separate accounts, create a fund to record committee activity and adjust revenues and expenditures to reflect state-shared revenue changes and recent bank negotiations.

John Walters, treasurer and finance director, walked the council through the amendments, describing carryovers from prior years and project approvals that moved into the current fiscal year. Walters proposed separating fringe benefits (pensions, defined contributions, health care) into distinct general ledger accounts to improve transparency and make it easier to track overruns or underspends in departmental budgets. "So my recommendation was to let's separate those fringe benefits out into their own accounts," Walters said.

Walters also described a new fund (fund 213) to capture committee revenue and expenditures that previously were recorded in the general fund and noted state changes in the revenue-sharing formula that reduced the city's expected state shared revenue. He said negotiations with First State Bank improved the city's interest earnings, partially offsetting state revenue declines. Walters reported $11.5 million in revenue and $11.5 million in expenditures in the capital projects fund (fund 415) related to police and fire buildings funded by bond proceeds and ARPA funds.

Councilmembers praised the transparency improvements and savings achieved by consolidating bank accounts. A motion to approve the budget amendments was moved by Mister Kearns and supported by Mister Frederick; the council voted 7–0 to approve the amendments.

City staff will implement the new GL accounts, post reports that show committee fund balances, and continue tracking grant and revenue opportunities.