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Ellsworth manager says budget now near 9.5% increase as staff reclaim costs and seek revenue options
Summary
City Manager told the council the FY27 municipal commitment sits near a 9.5% increase (8.66% blended with schools), driven largely by benefit and workers’ compensation increases, fuel and water treatment debt service, and advised council to weigh limited discretionary requests against rising baseline costs.
Ellsworth’s city manager told the council at a budget workshop that the municipal portion of the proposed FY27 commitment sits near a 9.5% increase and that the blended municipal-and-school figure is about 8.66%.
“This has been a really tough year,” the city manager said, describing an initial roughly 20% budget increase that staff and council reduced through repeated reviews and rebids to today’s level. He credited staff—particularly Ashley and Nate—for maintaining a detailed change log and building a calculator to model additions and subtractions in real time.
The manager identified several core drivers of the higher budget: an analysis of police and fire overtime and related liabilities that triggered an approximately $30,000 rise in workers’ compensation premiums; negotiated union and health‑insurance increases; a projected $90,000 uptick for vehicle fuel; and higher water rates tied to a planned $20‑plus million upgrade of the city’s treatment plant. “These are increases we don’t have any control over,” he said, noting many are maintenance costs rather than new programs.
Councilors asked for more detail on individual line items and potential tradeoffs. The manager said nonessential requests have already been trimmed—examples included a proposed website refresh reduced from $25,000 to $10,000—and said some discretionary items (an IT help‑desk position, a proposed new arbor program) would be reconsidered in light of the overall numbers. He also said councilors may exercise line‑item veto authority during final budget resolutions if they want to remove specific items.
On timing, staff plan one more workshop before the council’s June 4 meeting and the final June vote. The manager urged councilors to review the full change log and asked department heads to look for additional non‑discretionary savings, but said many of the largest increases—debt service and benefits—are difficult to trim without reducing core services.
The workshop closed with staff noting the proposed FY27 municipal commitment of about $11.9 million and a school commitment of about $16.6 million; staff will finalize the detailed budget book and return with updated figures at the next meeting.
