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Moab council reviews administration budget as software costs move to IT and salaries rise
Summary
City staff told the council the administration budget for FY26‑27 is roughly $5 million, with a 9% collective increase driven by personnel costs and the transfer of citywide software spending into the IT budget; staff flagged a roughly 7% expected COLA and a 10% benefits increase.
City staff presented the administration portion of the FY26‑27 budget at the March 24 Moab City Council meeting, saying the administration, recorder, treasurer and human resources budgets total a little under $5 million and show a roughly 9% increase across departments.
"What we're kind of expecting for salaries is about a 7%" for COLA and merit increases and "10% for benefits," finance staff said, explaining the larger personnel line items reflected market adjustments and a previously approved off‑cycle compression increase that raised some managers' pay. Staff emphasized the apparent jumps partly reflect internal reorganizations: software that was previously split across HR, recorder and treasurer has been consolidated into the IT budget so citywide licensing and support are not charged to multiple departments.
Presenters said the IT reallocation changes year‑to‑year comparisons and that some departments show higher personnel increases because previously distributed costs were moved into department‑level budgets. Staff also noted one department's salary change exceeded the baseline 7% due to an off‑cycle adjustment to address compression among supervisors and non‑supervisors.
Council members asked for follow‑up details on individual line items, including why elected officials' telephone costs tripled on the draft spreadsheet; staff said they would review that line and adjust if necessary. The council will continue budget review at upcoming meetings, with parks and recreation, CIP items and vehicle replacement budgets scheduled for a later session.
