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Staff outlines City of Montrose draft 2026 budget, flags capital and recurring costs
Summary
City staff presented the draft 2026 budget at the Aug. 25 workshop, highlighting fund consolidations, a major planned vehicle project in the street improvement plan, and recurring website and newsletter costs that will affect operations budgets.
City of Montrose staff presented a preliminary view of the 2026 budget at the Aug. 25 council workshop, pointing to fund consolidations and year‑to‑date actuals for 2025 as the baseline for next year’s plan. Staff said the proposed budget shows a number of small year‑to‑year changes across operating funds and identified capital items that will drive increases in specific enterprise funds.
On recurring expenses, staff highlighted communications and digital service costs. "It's gonna make things a little bit more transparent for the city moving forward," the Chair said when introducing a proposed web/phone app tied to an AI chatbot. Staff also flagged increases for newsletter printing and a recurring website maintenance fee. Major 2026 capital items noted in the presentation included a $184,000 vehicle project in the street improvement plan and an estimated software/Excel-related capital cost referenced in the workshop as about "208,000." Staff said auditors have requested moving street capital into the general capital fund for clearer presentation.
The workshop was informational; no motions or votes were recorded in the transcript. Council members asked clarifying questions about benefit costs, workers' comp allocation and the distribution of capital purchases between general and enterprise funds. Staff repeatedly emphasized that some figures (for example, quoted setup or annual amounts for the web/app on the transcript) were unclear and would be refined before formal adoption.
