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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Work Session – July 14, 2026

Video Archive — Tuesday, July 14, 2026

BodyColumbia, Missouri

SessionVideo Archive

DateTuesday, July 14, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 1:47:41

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:00

Call our fiscal year 27 first budget work session uh to order.

0:05

Uh really the only thing that we have on our agenda is this.

0:08

So DeCarlin, do you want me to kick it to you first or yes?

0:10

I'm gonna kick it to the city manager.

0:12

Yes, ma'am.

0:13

Thank you.

0:14

And I do apologize for the moving in spaces.

0:18

The council chambers are actually where ready, but we weren't sure if they were gonna be ready for today.

0:22

Okay.

0:23

So we thought just to be prepared, we'd we'd move it over to the health department.

0:26

But Wednesday and Friday for downtown in council chambers.

0:29

Absolutely.

0:30

And Christian promised me that everything's ready, right?

0:32

Absolutely.

0:33

Good to go.

0:34

Okay.

0:34

Okay.

0:35

So we want to take you on a little bit of a journey as we talk about our budget process.

0:40

And so one of the things that we're gonna do a little different from last year is we kind of we didn't really get into the proposed budget that we kind of rejected in order to get to the actual budget that we actually sent to the council.

0:53

So I want to kind of show you some of the things that department directors asked for that we had to cut in order for us to have a balanced budget.

0:58

And remember, our our goal for our budget process is to present a balanced budget to our residents.

1:04

And so that's the process that we work through, and that's our ultimate goal.

1:08

And so when we when we talk about the budget, I I feel like we're constantly going through a budget process and it never stops.

1:17

And I think Matt will agree with me.

1:19

Uh so one of the things we do in January is we start off with talking to you guys about what are our goals.

1:24

And so what are the goals for the budget?

1:26

So that'll help department directors understand what are their what's their ask should be.

1:31

And so in January we set what those goals are.

1:34

Uh the next step is we talk about new positions.

1:37

And so we asked department directors to give us what are the new positions they would like.

1:42

And so we'll start we start a process and I meet with every single department director to go over each position that they're requesting.

1:50

And some are denied, and some are say, well, we'll say, okay, we'll move it to the next phase.

1:56

And then after we talk about positions, then we talk about new decision items.

2:00

And that's either equipment, vehicles, or processes or programs.

2:06

And we go through all of those.

2:07

And again, we set meetings where we go individually and we talk about each new decision item.

2:12

And then from there we say, okay, here's what we believe our expenditures will be.

2:17

And so that's about a three-month process.

2:19

And then in April, we'll we got a better picture of what our revenues should be.

2:24

And then we'll have what our forecasts are, and we'll say, okay, here's our revenues.

2:27

And then we'll have that conversation of revenues over expenditures.

2:31

And then we looked and we said, okay, we need to figure out how do we balance.

2:35

Uh this year, when we got through that process, I want to believe that we're a little over seven million dollars out of balance.

2:42

Yeah, we were we originally it was around 141 million dollars in expenditures.

2:49

And so when we had to get down to 133 for to actually match what our revenues are.

2:55

And so that was our goal, and that was the journey we went through.

2:57

And I want to thank department directors.

2:59

In the past, what we've done is we've sent out a letter or an email to city to all the department directors and say, cut your budget by 5%, cut your budget by 3%, cut your budget by 10%.

3:10

We actually had a conversation with department directors, and we all sat around in the room and we talked about priorities.

3:15

And we asked, okay, we need to balance.

3:17

What can we do without?

3:19

And the different department directors said, okay, here's some things that we can put off for a year, or here's some things we could put off for a couple of years.

3:25

And we collaboratively got to a point where we actually had a balanced budget.

3:30

Uh at some point I did have to send an email and say, okay, we're gonna just cut all service lines by about a half percent.

3:37

And so everyone, so all service lines got cut by a half percent.

3:40

And so that's kind of a quick snapshot of this journey.

3:43

But I do want to say that it is our budget process is a very collaborative process.

3:48

We really want to hear from department directors of what their needs are, and so that we can kind of prepare for our future, but also understand the reality of what we can afford and what we can't afford.

3:58

This budget does not anticipate the public safety sales tax.

4:02

It does not participate any growth in taxes.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Budget Equity Analysis█████████████████████████████████████████████63%

Public Safety██████8%

Public Health█████7%

Engineering And Infrastructure████6%

Fiscal Sustainability███4%

Procedural██3%

Cannabis Regulation██3%

Affordable Housing██3%

Personnel Matters█2%

Summary of Proceedings

Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Work Session – July 14, 2026

This work session was the first of three budget meetings for the City of Columbia’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget. City staff presented a detailed overview of the general fund, including revenue projections, expenditure plans, fee studies, and the internal process used to achieve a balanced budget. The proposed budget totals $133 million in both revenue and operating expenditures, with no new revenue sources assumed. Staff outlined $7.3 million in internal cuts, including personnel reductions, new decision item denials, and operating decreases, to address a structural gap between revenue growth and rising costs. Council members discussed impacts on services, the utility assistance fund, social services, and public safety equipment, and set dates for future meetings.

Discussion Items

Budget Process Overview: City Manager DeCarlin described the collaborative budget process, beginning with goal-setting in January, followed by reviews of new positions and decision items with department directors. The original expenditure request was approximately $141 million, requiring cuts to match projected revenue of $133 million—a gap of about $7 million. Staff moved from blanket percentage cuts to a priority-based conversation, though a half-percent cut across all service lines was eventually applied.
Revenue Projections: Sales and use tax (29% of general fund revenue) is projected to grow at 1% annually. Property tax is stable with slow growth. Marijuana tax revenue has increased significantly but remains a small portion (about $1 million). Staff noted that several other local taxes (cigarette, telecommunications, cable TV) are declining. The budget does not anticipate revenue from the public safety sales tax.
Fee Studies: Two studies were completed: an internal cost-of-service study (to be presented in August) and a consultant-led business license fee study. The business license study uses police demand, street/traffic usage, and fire demand to set fees. A freeze on business license fees is currently in place.
Expenditures and Cuts: Personnel costs account for 70% of the general fund. The largest functional group is public safety. To balance the budget, $7.3 million in cuts were made internally:
- Personnel reductions ($3.6M): $1.9 million through holding positions vacant or eliminating positions (e.g., police froze open positions, health eliminated an LPN, HIV case manager, and held planning supervisor and health program coordinator vacant). Police also included a $750,000 planned lapse to account for hiring timelines.
- New Decision Item (NDI) reductions ($1.6M): Denied items include police overtime and standby pay, fire personal protective equipment ($271,000), fire station building improvements ($236,000), streets salt and pavement marking increases ($542,000).
- Operating reductions: A half-percent cut across all service lines, plus department-level reductions to offset new items.
Impacts of Cuts: Staff highlighted delays in critical replacements, reduction of utility assistance fund from $600,000 to $400,000 (pending audit results), a 10% reduction in social services funding, discontinuation of family planning services, deferral of the drone fleet replacement program, and delay of the real-time information center specialist hiring.
Council Priorities: The budget includes a 3% wage increase for city employees, minimized insurance premium increases, public safety investments (10 sets of protective gear, Knox Box replacements, confined space safety equipment), and affordable housing funding ($610,000 HOME funds, $500,000 CDBG, $1 million housing trust fund). No new mechanism to fund the housing trust fund is included in this budget.
Council Budget Discussion: Council members reviewed their own budget for the first time, noting that boards and commissions historically spend only about half of their allocated budget. Councilmember Peters suggested using unused board funds to create a stipend for councilmember home security. Staff noted that boards were asked to propose cuts but most did not. The increase in the council budget was attributed to laptops moving from the public communications fund back to the council division.

Key Outcomes

No formal votes were taken; the session was informational.
Council agreed to start the August 3rd and August 17th regular council meetings at 6:00 p.m. (pre-council at 5:00 p.m.) to accommodate the anticipated length of the budget public hearings.
Campaign finance reform discussion was deferred from August 17th to the September 21st work session.
Staff will provide a risk register (or equivalent) to help council assess the implications of budget cuts, and will include more detail on NDI denials in future quarterly budget adjustment memos.
Future meetings: A second budget work session (enterprise funds) on July 16, 2026; a third session (all funds) on July 18, 2026; the first public hearing on the budget on August 3, 2026; a budget town hall on July 30, 2026; and a bond debt work session on August 3, 2026 (pre-council).

Meeting Transcript

Call our fiscal year 27 first budget work session uh to order. Uh really the only thing that we have on our agenda is this. So DeCarlin, do you want me to kick it to you first or yes? I'm gonna kick it to the city manager. Yes, ma'am. Thank you. And I do apologize for the moving in spaces. The council chambers are actually where ready, but we weren't sure if they were gonna be ready for today. Okay. So we thought just to be prepared, we'd we'd move it over to the health department. But Wednesday and Friday for downtown in council chambers. Absolutely. And Christian promised me that everything's ready, right? Absolutely. Good to go. Okay. Okay. So we want to take you on a little bit of a journey as we talk about our budget process. And so one of the things that we're gonna do a little different from last year is we kind of we didn't really get into the proposed budget that we kind of rejected in order to get to the actual budget that we actually sent to the council. So I want to kind of show you some of the things that department directors asked for that we had to cut in order for us to have a balanced budget. And remember, our our goal for our budget process is to present a balanced budget to our residents. And so that's the process that we work through, and that's our ultimate goal. And so when we when we talk about the budget, I I feel like we're constantly going through a budget process and it never stops. And I think Matt will agree with me. Uh so one of the things we do in January is we start off with talking to you guys about what are our goals. And so what are the goals for the budget? So that'll help department directors understand what are their what's their ask should be. And so in January we set what those goals are. Uh the next step is we talk about new positions. And so we asked department directors to give us what are the new positions they would like. And so we'll start we start a process and I meet with every single department director to go over each position that they're requesting. And some are denied, and some are say, well, we'll say, okay, we'll move it to the next phase. And then after we talk about positions, then we talk about new decision items. And that's either equipment, vehicles, or processes or programs. And we go through all of those. And again, we set meetings where we go individually and we talk about each new decision item. And then from there we say, okay, here's what we believe our expenditures will be. And so that's about a three-month process. And then in April, we'll we got a better picture of what our revenues should be. And then we'll have what our forecasts are, and we'll say, okay, here's our revenues. And then we'll have that conversation of revenues over expenditures. And then we looked and we said, okay, we need to figure out how do we balance. Uh this year, when we got through that process, I want to believe that we're a little over seven million dollars out of balance. Yeah, we were we originally it was around 141 million dollars in expenditures. And so when we had to get down to 133 for to actually match what our revenues are. And so that was our goal, and that was the journey we went through. And I want to thank department directors. In the past, what we've done is we've sent out a letter or an email to city to all the department directors and say, cut your budget by 5%, cut your budget by 3%, cut your budget by 10%. We actually had a conversation with department directors, and we all sat around in the room and we talked about priorities. And we asked, okay, we need to balance.

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TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
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