City staff previews 2027 budget schedule; board told digital wallet will be offline during payment‑system upgrade

City staff briefed the Albany Utility Board on the budget timeline for the coming months and on an upcoming upgrade to the utility’s payment processing.

Michael Eaton (introduced by staff) told the board staff had compiled budget variables and will gather additional input at the commission retreat this weekend. Eaton said the utility has a balanced budget on current assumptions and plans to bring proposed utility rates to the next utility board meeting for consideration; the full city commission will receive the manager’s proposed budget at its first May work session and the city expects budget adoption by the last meeting in June.

Separately, staff advised customers of a payment‑processing upgrade. An operations speaker said the digital wallet feature would be unavailable for about two weeks and customers paying by card will have to manually key their information during the outage; the customer portal and phone payments will be unavailable for about one hour next Thursday from 8 to 9 a.m. "Some people have their information saved in a digital wallet... so what for those 2 weeks it won't be available," the presenter said. Staff said they would post notice on the city website and Facebook page.

Board members also requested that the ACEs program and youth‑service partnerships be discussed at the upcoming retreat or included in the next budget conversation so funding could be considered for summer programming.

Why it matters: The schedule sets the timeline for rate proposals the board will consider; the payment‑processing change affects how customers can pay in the near term and requires public notice.

What’s next: Staff will bring proposed rates to the next utility board meeting and post notices about the payment‑system changes on the city's channels.