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Saratoga Springs council weighs using fund balance, modest tax increase to sustain RISE shelter
Summary
City councilors reviewed a 2026 amended budget that would include a roughly $62.9 million operating plan and discussed using a one‑time $500,000 from unassigned fund balance — plus modest tax adjustments — to keep the RISE homeless shelter operating while the nonprofit ramps down services next year.
Saratoga Springs councilors spent most of a meeting debating an amended 2026 budget and whether to use a one‑time draw on the city’s unassigned fund balance to keep the RISE homeless shelter open.
The budget presenter (Speaker 1) told the council the amended operating budget stood at about $62.9 million, with a consolidated city total near $87 million when enterprise and other funds are included. Personnel and employee benefits account for roughly 85% of operating spending, Speaker 1 said, and long‑term cost pressures — including a 24% rise in salaries over five years, a 27% rise in health insurance and an 86% rise in retirement costs — have strained the forecast.
Sybil, a representative of RISE, urged the council during public comment to prioritize shelter funding as an essential service and offered a possible compromise: "RISE is very happy to work with the city to ramp down the service over the course of the year so that we don't necessarily need it for the entire year," she said. Sybil said the shelter had not budgeted for an expected influx of about "30 plus" additional people and that RISE could consider a contract end timed before the Code Blue season to reduce costs.
Several council members, and the mayor, voiced support for continuing shelter funding. "We made that commitment," Mayor Safford said of earlier council promises to support the nonprofit network; she said those commitments were reflected in her original budget but were trimmed in finance’s initial adjustments. Multiple councilors suggested a one‑time use of fund balance — Speaker 6 and others described $500,000 as a plausible bridge to transition models while the city works with county partners on a longer‑term solution.
Resident Douglas said the city should take a hard look at discretionary items if shelter money is at risk: "The RISE shelter money just going away ... should be the first thing that you put into the budget because you're serving those who can't serve themselves," he said during public comment.
Council members also discussed possible one‑time funding sources, including selling or leasing city‑owned 5 William Street to raise cash, but several warned that leasing would not produce the immediate, large one‑time revenue officials say they need and that renovation costs could offset rental income. The council debated restoring a $50,000 participatory‑budgeting line versus reallocating that amount to Meals on Wheels, the soup kitchen and other nonprofit services.
A separate technical question animated the discussion: the unassigned fund balance estimate. One councilor cited a projected figure of about $7.6 million, while another referred to an $11.2 million balance as of Dec. 31, 2024. Finance staff and the presenter said they would provide updated, good‑faith estimates by e‑mail and in an amended budget the council would review before a scheduled public hearing and possible vote on Nov. 18.
No formal appropriation was adopted at the meeting. Speaker 1 said staff would circulate an amended budget and is aiming for a council vote at the public hearing next week. The meeting adjourned after a voice motion.
