Mayor and finance officials outline FY27 budget, stress high bond ratings and reserves

The mayor opened the budget hearing by emphasizing the city's strong bond ratings and long-standing reserve policy, saying maintaining high ratings keeps borrowing costs low and enables capital projects such as new schools and neighborhood investments. The administration framed FY27 as a constrained year given federal and state funding uncertainty.

CFO Kathy Bunnell thanked department staff for year‑round, line‑by‑line budgeting and said departments made cuts requested by the administration. "They really looked at it line by line and they made the cuts we asked them to," Bunnell said, adding that the city must be mindful of federal- and state-level uncertainty when forecasting revenues.

Budget Director Chris Frazier described a modest increase for the Office of Administration and Finance tied to contractual obligations and personnel costs and invited council questions on vacancies and salary savings. Frazier said departmental staffing has been reduced in recent years and called attention to a $1.7 million negative line the administration used to capture anticipated salary savings from positions left open during hiring lags.

Councilors and the administration agreed the school budget is the largest component of the overall city budget; the council president noted roughly two‑thirds of the total budget relates to schools and is largely off limits to municipal managers. The mayor and finance staff said the city's approach balances maintaining services with protecting reserves and bond capacity.

The hearing will continue on subsequent days as department heads present line-item details and councilors probe specific program and personnel requests.