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Finance director outlines $1 billion city budget, warns of long-term revenue shortfall
Summary
Reno's finance director told the Ward 1 NAB the city faces structural budget pressure as sales-tax (consolidated tax) growth has slowed; the current year budget totals roughly $1 billion with a $350 million general fund, and staff proposed vacancy budgeting, position freezes and a proposed sanitation franchise-fee increase to help close FY27 gaps.
Vicky Bamburen, Reno's director of finance, gave a comprehensive briefing on the city's finances and the near-term approach to the FY27 budget.
Bamburen said the city's current-year budget is about $1,000,000,000 in total, with roughly $350,000,000 in the general fund. She told the board the city used approximately $9.5 million in one-time funds to balance the current year and pointed to slower consolidated (sales) tax growth as a central driver of a multi-year revenue gap. "When you look at how many employees do we have in the city, we have about 1,500 full time employees," she said, noting that salary and benefits make up about 81% of general-fund expenditures and that police, fire and dispatch together constitute about 64% of the general-fund budget.
On revenue and next steps: Bamburen said there are essentially three levers — cut expenses, increase revenues, or do both. For FY27 staff are proposing several measures: budgeting a 2% vacancy rate to capture expected in-year savings, continuing position freezes (28 positions frozen this year and additional reductions proposed), zero‑based budgeting for departments, use of limited one‑time funds for capital, and consideration of a sanitation franchise-fee increase that could raise about $5.5 million annually if approved. She also noted that the city is analyzing options for state legislative engagement to address distributional issues affecting northern Nevada.
Board members asked detailed questions about the Department of Taxation tentative document due April 15, legislative strategy and whether Washoe County bears the primary responsibility for homelessness funding. Bamburen explained the tentative filing is a state requirement that sets the baseline for the budget process, that the Office of Policy and Strategy works with legislators and other agencies on BDRs, and that homeless services are primarily a county responsibility while the city funds some clean-and-safe operations from the general fund.
Why it matters: The briefing framed the city budget as constrained by slower revenue growth rather than a single-year crisis and identified concrete policy and operational tools under consideration ahead of council and budget advisory-board review. Bamburen encouraged public review of the city's digital budget book and noted several upcoming budget review dates ahead of the May public hearing.
