Perry City council opens FY2027 budget work session, schedules public hearing and outlines revenue and cuts

PERRY CITY — Perry City officials opened their third FY2027 budget work session and sketched a plan of modest revenue increases and targeted spending cuts to close a small shortfall while preserving reserves.

Staff told the council the conservative revenue projection for the general fund stood at about $5,110,365. To close the gap they recommended options including a $2 per month increase in residential garbage rates and step increases to commercial garbage rates (about $30,000 total), modest increases in magistrate fines and parking/parks camping fees (roughly $12,000), and pursuing additional franchise-fee revenue if Guthrie REC and Bedford County REC accounts come under a city franchise agreement.

The council also discussed several expenditure reductions that would lower near-term costs: delaying a proposed second police sergeant position, trimming hourly fire-station staffing, modest reductions in contract services and cemetery supply budgets, cutting McCreary Center park wages, removing a $16,000 yearly payment to Pegasus Channel 12, and reducing the transfer to the tree-removal fund. With those adjustments staff said the general-fund figure would be roughly $5,109,000 with only a small surplus.

Nut graf: The session combined conservative revenue assumptions with specific, incremental cuts rather than large personnel reductions; staff emphasized timing uncertainty for major new revenues (notably industrial franchise-fee agreements) and proposed scheduling a public hearing so the council could formally consider the revenue changes and tax certification.

Beyond operating choices, capital priorities dominated the conversation. Council reviewed a color-coded capital list (green = funded; red = not funded; yellow = questions; blue = bond items) and highlighted the recreation center and pool as the largest ask. Staff estimated roughly $2 million to address pool filtration and ceiling work and proposed financing that through a bond, with council members asking staff to model bond terms and timing.

Departments outlined specific capital requests: hotel maintenance (boilers appear functional but the kitchen hood and exhaust need rework; staff proposed replacing condenser units for multiple walk-in freezers at an estimated $100,000 to reduce chiller runtime); rec and parks needs (gators, an infield groomer, lobby furniture, and pickleball-court design); maintenance vehicle and forklift replacement on a used-vehicle strategy; police equipment (a planned 3-year radio rotation and exploration of grants to cover portable and in-car radios); and fire-department PPE upgrades and a grant-dependent Ranger vehicle for grass fires.

Staff also described the city's sustainability fund (revenues from Alliance-hosted solar leases of roughly $36,000 annually), which is expected to reach roughly $250,000 by July and could be tapped for buyouts of some third-party solar leases to produce $20,000 in annual savings once buyouts are completed.

On scheduling, staff said the city would publish the public-hearing notice this week, hold a 5:30 p.m. meeting to approve the property-tax hearing notice and a 6:00 p.m. meeting to set the budget public hearing, and perform a rate-analysis with PFM before July 1 to set multi-year utility and fee rates.

Quotes: "I like to be conservative in my revenue," a staff presenter said, noting that uncertain industrial accounts and timing make aggressive revenue assumptions risky. On capital, a council member said the rec-center bond is a "big thing" that needs modeling to determine term and cost.

Ending: The council gave staff direction to publish the budget public-hearing notice and to return with refined bond modeling, rate-analysis results and any revised department requests at a future meeting.