Stafford council reviews FY26-27 budget and schedules special meeting to finalize priorities

The Stafford City Council convened June 10 for a workshop on the proposed FY26-27 budget, with a focus on four public-safety line items that the mayor asked be held for council input, a $1.9 million package of one-time capital requests, and broad personnel proposals including market adjustments and pension-rate options.

CFO (speaker 4) told the council the three-year audited picture showed total revenues of $28.3 million in FY23, $29.6 million in FY24 and $31.8 million in FY25, and noted two major one-time items skewed last year's margin: roughly $2.0 million per year in grant revenue (largely ARPA) and a one-time $1.3 million sales-tax collection from an audit contract with Avenue Insight. "So this grant and the sales tax collection, it was all one-time revenue," the CFO said, warning that without those one-offs the city's margin would be much smaller.

Council and staff split discussion between recurring operating needs and one-time capital that would draw on fund balance. The CFO said current revenues of about $31 million contrasted with projected recurring expenses approaching $32 million and that capital would largely be funded from fund balance. Council asked staff for a refined, consolidated packet showing the revised personnel and capital totals and to return on a special called meeting; Councilmember (speaker 6) moved and a second was recorded to hold that meeting on Wednesday, June 24 at 6:30 p.m.