Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Finance Committee recommends forwarding 2026–27 budget with revised COLA and pay-study implementation
Summary
The Finance Committee voted to recommend the FY2026–27 annual budget and tax-rate ordinance to the full board after staff reported modest revenue gains, a revised COLA schedule (2.4% in July and a 0.5% increase in February), lower-than-expected pay-study reclassification costs and vacancy-based savings that closed a roughly $700,000 shortfall.
The Finance Committee voted to forward Ordinance 2026-07 — the annual budget and tax-rate ordinance for July 1, 2026–June 30, 2027 — to the full Board with a positive recommendation after staff summarized changes and answered members’ questions.
Finance Director Tamara Ingersoll told the committee the largest changes since the budget workshop were slightly higher revenue estimates for sales and property tax and a reforecast of pay-study and COLA timing. "The COLA has been updated from 2.8% implemented in October to 2.4% effective the first payroll in July, with an additional half-percent in the second payroll in February," Ingersoll said, and staff estimated the pay-study reclassification cost had fallen from about $125,000 in an earlier draft to roughly $35,000 in the current version.
Why it matters: those revenue and expenditure adjustments — plus a series of smaller line-item reductions and assumptions about vacancies — closed a roughly $700,000 gap identified at the prior workshop. Ingersoll said increased revenues accounted for about $235,000 of the improvement and that vacancies and reduced reclassification estimates made up most of the remainder.
Committee members pressed staff on specifics. On police staffing, Ingersoll said the current-year budget assumed five police positions would be vacant for the whole year, while next year’s budget assumes two vacancies; that shift increases the salary-and-benefits line. On other items, staff confirmed a previously discussed $30,000 reduction to the lobbyist professional-services line remains in the draft and that nonprofit funding cuts recommended earlier were not included.
Pension costs and timeline: committee members also focused on retirement costs charged through the Tennessee Consolidated Retirement System (TCRS). Staff presented a multi-year trend showing the city’s TCRS payments as a share of operating costs rising over recent years (staff cited figures including roughly 5.0%, 5.9%, 6.4%, 6.1%, 7.1%, and 8.4% across different years) and warned FY2027 calculations use 2025 salaries — a year when the city granted sizable raises — which is driving the FY2027 increase.
Technology and subscriptions: staff noted one-time and subscription technology costs remain a recurring pressure. The city expects to go live on a final Tyler Technologies implementation for court services on June 1 and said the Placer AI subscription used for event attendance and grant justification may not be renewed if the state tourism program provides similar services.
Next steps: with a positive recommendation from the Finance Committee, the ordinance will proceed to the full Board for consideration. The committee adjourned after approving the referral.
