City Manager outlines 2027 budget timetable and flags $1.2 million police personnel pressure

City Manager Greg Doyon presented the City of Great Falls’ 2027 budget development timeline and warned commissioners of growing fiscal pressures that will shape next year’s budget decisions. He said the budget transmittal is scheduled for July 7; the Commission will hold additional work sessions as needed, a public hearing on July 21, adopt a budget resolution on Aug. 4, and adopt an annual tax levy after Department of Revenue certification on Aug. 18.

Doyon identified the Commission’s priorities—public safety, development and economic development, land use and housing, general fund support, and legislative engagement—and warned that personnel costs are the largest budget pressure. He said the Police Department is projected to experience "approximately a $1.2 million increase in its personnel-related expenditures." Doyon said collective bargaining obligations, higher health insurance and retirement costs, and other personnel-related increases are major drivers of the gap between revenues and expenditures.

Doyon also flagged staffing capacity concerns in the City Attorney’s Office, noting the part-time attorney providing support will no longer be available after November, which could create a gap in legal coverage. He said the Fire Department has requested equipment replacements that may not be affordable within current projections and proposed hiring a Strategic Development Officer to prioritize projects that could grow the tax base; funding for that position is expected to be included in next year’s budget.

The manager described revenue uncertainty tied to recent state legislation, noting that Senate Bill 117 modified the formula determining property tax revenues and that House Bill 231 and Senate Bill 542 changed mill-levy and tax-rate structures; the city is awaiting Department of Revenue taxable valuation information before finalizing the budget. Doyon emphasized the city must take a conservative approach and that some legacy uses of fund balance have masked gaps: over the past five years fund balance has been used to offset the gap between revenue growth and expenditure increases, and current proposals could require up to $1.2 million in fund balance—an approach sustainable for only one to two more years.

Commissioner Rick Tryon asked how the city would respond to residents who ask why personnel levels are not reduced; Doyon said he would ask which departments residents would want cut and stressed the Commission's intent to protect police and fire services. Commissioner Joe McKenney said he is a founding member of a new citizen group, Electric City Citizens for Public Safety, and that the group has commissioned a professional public-opinion poll costing just under $30,000 with more than half the funds raised to develop questions and analysis should the Commission move toward a ballot measure.

Doyon said staff will return with budget scenarios showing the impacts of using no fund balance and using reduced fund balance, and additional work sessions will be scheduled for further Commission review and discussion.