Troy council unanimously approves year-end budget transfers, authorizes computer replacements

The Troy City Council unanimously approved a package of year-end budget amendments at a special finance meeting, including a transfer to replace aging staff computers and housekeeping moves across general, garbage, water and sewer funds.

Councilors moved and seconded Ordinance 67, which an administration representative said covers a ‘‘couple dozen’’ workstation replacements. The administration explained those machines run Windows 10, whose vendor support ended in October, and replacing them now will avoid higher prices next year. ‘‘Microsoft is not gonna support it anymore,’’ the administration representative said, adding that buying now would save money compared with delaying the purchase.

Council discussion also focused on Ordinance 71, a broader set of budget adjustments. Finance staff said some revenue lines ‘‘overperformed’’ while others overexpended, and the ordinance reallocates those surpluses to cover overspent lines as an annual year‑end cleanup. Staff noted the city has already booked SAFER grant reimbursements for the first and second quarters and that rules limit which salary-related costs may be charged to the grant. "The reimbursement for the SAFER grant is obviously based on the actual regular salaries; you can't submit overtime hours," a finance official said.

At least one councilor questioned whether some overspending historically occurs before the council has approved transfers, noting multiple line items that exceeded budget by tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars and saying transfers should be brought to the council earlier in the year. Finance staff and another councilor characterized the cleanup transfer as routine and part of standard year‑end accounting practice.

All budget-related ordinances were adopted without a recorded dissent.