Governance board gives preliminary approval to FY27 budget, directs work on call-billing rules

The governance board approved a preliminary FY27 budget on a vote during its meeting, advancing a plan that would raise member contributions roughly 4% and prioritize personnel spending while staff refines cost-sharing metrics. Mr. Masterson, who presented the budget, said personnel and benefits account for about $2.4 million and that the figure reflects reactivating an assistant director and two dispatcher positions.

"That 2.4 million would reflect reactivating those positions and moving forward with those positions," Mr. Masterson said, outlining plans to fill the assistant director and dispatcher roles beginning in July. He described the presentation as a "30,000-foot overview," noting reductions in program development and capital outlay driven by recent state funding and legislative changes that may shift some CAD- and capital-related costs to the state.

The budget presenter told members the full draft comes to about a $3 million operating budget and recommended preliminary approval "to keep the lights on" while operations and governance work to develop fairer long-term billing metrics. After discussion a motion to approve the preliminary FY27 budget was moved and seconded and the board voted in favor.

Members emphasized that the JPA needs clearer, uniform rules about how agencies are charged. Several speakers said the historical charging method—based on radio airtime—does not measure dispatcher workload and can unfairly shift costs among members. Chief Stoyle and other members urged a definition of "billable call," distinguishing routine radio checks or officer status calls from calls that require dispatcher processing.

Officials directed staff to provide regular data to support that work. Mr. Masterson and Director Fox agreed to produce quarterly call-volume reports broken out by agency and quarterly expense-and-revenue summaries from budgeting software so governance and operations groups have consistent metrics between meetings. "We can run a quarterly call volume report... it'll be a total report broken up by agency," Mr. Masterson said.

Members also backed forming a subcommittee of governance and operations representatives to develop options for defining billable events, nature-code definitions and potential billing models. The group discussed whether adjustments should be annual or on a multi-year schedule; some members said annual adjustments would be more appropriate for this early-stage organization.

The budget presentation also noted capital items. Chief Martinez confirmed the JPA received capital outlay money that could fund dispatch-center expansion design and related communications projects, and said that award was not yet reflected in the current budget but can be incorporated in future versions.

Director Fox told the board the draft assumes roughly $800,000 in carryover funds from prior capital balances, and cautioned much of that will be used in the coming fiscal year. "We are budgeting approximately 800,000 in carryover money," Director Fox said, explaining that the carryover came from capital funds transferred at the JPA's formation and that staff aimed to minimize the needed increase.

The board set a tentative timeline for a final review (members agreed to meet at 9:00 a.m. on May 28 before an operations meeting) and instructed staff and the proposed subcommittee to return with defined metrics, options for billing methodologies, and regular quarterly reports ahead of final budget adoption.

The preliminary budget motion carried; staff will continue work on definitions, data collection, and any needed amendments before the final FY27 adoption.