Montclair council approves midyear budget adjustments, cites overtime and revenue uncertainties

Montclair — The City Council adopted staff recommendations to revise the fiscal 2025–26 general operating budget at an adjourned workshop, increasing appropriations by $264,637 and revising estimated revenues upward by $354,570, which staff said would leave an $89,933 midyear excess.

Staff presented the midyear review, noting a “full amount of requests for $2,149,389” and that, after transfers and a modest revenue uptick, “we whittled that down to 264,637,” the presenter said. The report listed department-level adjustments and transfers intended to limit the general-fund impact for many line items.

Several council members pressed staff on line‑item transparency and recurring overtime. “Could we add another line at the beginning, like ‘requested,’ because it’s not showing what the police department requested for that overtime?” Council member Mendez said, asking the presentation to show the original requests alongside approved and midyear amounts.

A police official said overtime growth is driven not solely by staffing levels but by vacancies, training, special assignments and community events. “When someone calls in sick or is in training … someone has to come in to work overtime to fill that patrol shift,” the official said, explaining that special assignments and additional units (narcotics, SROs and a newly staffed investigations team) have increased overtime needs.

Staff described transfers used to cover most increases in police and public-works accounts; for example, records overtime and communications overtime were funded by transfers from multiple accounts, resulting in no net general-fund effect for those items, staff said. The fire department’s overtime request was partly covered by transfers, with staff reporting a remaining general‑fund impact of $24,250.

Council member Lopez pressed whether administrative-services increases reflected specific hires. Staff clarified that human-resources costs (medical exams, psychological testing, recruiting) are budgeted centrally in administrative services to cover hires citywide, including public-safety recruits.

On sewer finances, staff said a missed State Water Resources Control Board annual permit cost of $18,186 was charged to sewer-maintenance accounts and would not affect the general fund. Staff also noted an anticipated $15,515 net increase in intergovernmental revenue, which included a motor-vehicle-in-lieu increase and an SB 90 claim reimbursement.

City Manager (by title) placed the revenue outlook in broader context: staff estimated at most a 1.5% gain in sales tax next year and cautioned that regional economic trends and international events could dampen projections. The manager also said the decision to defund the Gold Line had weakened the area’s potential for attracting higher-wage commuters to North Montclair.

After questions and scheduling discussion about the full budget workshop in June, Council member Bridal Rue moved to adopt staff recommendations; the mayor seconded. The council used an electronic vote and the motion was adopted, according to the clerk.

The council did not provide a roll-call tally in the workshop transcript. Staff said they will supply follow-up detail by email on specific items (including the sick‑leave redemption balance and nutritional-meal accounting) and the council will reconvene for further budget consideration at its June session if needed.