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Taller staff present FY2027 budget draft; shelter operations, staff pay and Zumwalt Park subsidy are key drivers
Summary
City staff presented a preliminary FY2027 budget showing a modest use of fund balance and highlighting drivers including full-year homeless shelter operations (+$852k), negotiated salary increases and a $250,000 subsidy for Zumwalt Park concerts; multiple new staff requests are set for midyear review.
City finance staff presented a preliminary FY2027 budget to the Taller City Council on April 7 showing roughly $75.9 million in combined expenditures and transfers and a preliminary $871,000 use of general fund balance.
Budget manager Jacob Bel Sid said salary and benefits account for the largest ongoing increase, driven by approved negotiated increases and an assumed 33% vacancy factor in current staffing. Bel Sid told the council staff had assumed a 15% health-insurance savings tied to the new employee clinic but said the number would be adjusted as actual claims data arrive.
A top one-time and ongoing driver is the citys shelter operations. "In fiscal year 26 we budgeted a little over $1.1 million for the temporary encampment; now we need to account for a full year of shelter operations," Bel Sid said, explaining the preliminary FY2027 shelter budget is just over $2 million.
Council members pressed staff on a separate line: a $250,000 subsidy for operations tied to the new Zumwalt Park amphitheater and concert series. Councilmember Sagala said he was wary of repeated midyear asks and cautioned the council to watch subsidies closely: "I wouldn't be surprised if this money is all sucked up by September, October and then we got to come back again next year," he said.
Staff also listed reclassifications already included and a set of personnel requests that are not funded in the preliminary operating budget: 12 police positions (including promotion ranks), two fire positions and several maintenance and custodial jobs. Staff said the city will bring those position requests forward at midyear if operating results allow and after recruitment timing is considered.
Staff calendar: the city will hold a CIP workshop, return with revised revenue and salary allocations, and expects to bring a budget adoption item to council in June, with a BPU adoption timeline running in parallel for utility funds.
Next steps: staff will refine salary allocations using the new payroll module, bring a CIP workshop at the next meeting and return with updated revenue and expense estimates ahead of adoption.
