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City manager outlines tight 2027 budget, hiring freeze and priorities
Summary
City Manager Tom Joyce told the council the 2027 budget process starts with a minus-3% review after adding planning figures for salaries and benefits; he described a general-fund hiring freeze with five vacancies held and said public safety hires remain a priority.
City Manager Tom Joyce told the Minot City Council the administration has begun a 2027 budget "drill" intended to hold spending flat, starting departments at a minus-3% scenario while carrying planning figures for wages and benefits.
"We started with a minus 3%... but we had already added in a planning figure of a plus 4% in cumulative salaries and the 7% for cumulative benefits," Joyce said, summarizing the balance officials are trying to strike between fiscal restraint and competitive compensation.
Joyce said the city has implemented a general-fund hiring freeze: five general-fund positions are being held and must be approved by the city manager before being filled. He added that public-safety positions remain prioritized and "green light" hiring for police, fire and dispatch continues.
The city manager also outlined potential revenue and cost-management tools under consideration, including modest increases to fees and charges, delaying some equipment purchases in 2026, and examining the city's paid-time-off buyout policy to reduce liabilities. He said those options and other "marginal gains" will be discussed as budget figures are refined.
Joyce described efforts to build internal capacity, including a leadership-development cohort and an organizational transformation team to examine long-term structure and efficiencies.
The manager closed by urging the council to prioritize public safety and major capital projects such as flood protection and aircraft-naval-support-related projects, while warning that constrained resources will require difficult choices.
Next steps: department heads will present budget requests in late May–June, the city manager will present a proposed budget in mid-July, and the council will continue policy deliberations through June and the summer.
