OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

FY2027 Enterprise Funds Budget Work Session – July 15, 2026

Video ArchiveWednesday, July 15, 2026
BodyColumbia, Missouri
SessionVideo Archive
DateWednesday, July 15, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:48:25

Transcript — Verbatim
7:45

We're gonna go ahead and kick off our second of our fiscal year twenty-seven City of Columbia budget work sessions.

7:52

Um this one is focused on our enterprise funds.

7:55

A reminder for those who uh were at the health department on Monday or watching online, or however else, we talked about the general fund on Monday's work session.

8:06

Uh today we're talking about enterprise fund.

8:08

Friday is the rest, as well as any follow-up and the new decision items conversation.

8:13

So I'm gonna kick it over to Matthew Liu.

8:19

Okay.

9:20

Um of providing service.

9:28

Similar to a private business, they generate revenue through user fees and charges for service, but all of those revenues must be spent on activities that are directly related to the enterprise they're collected for.

9:43

So that can include operating expenses, capital improvements, debt service, um, vehicle and equipment replacement purchases.

9:54

Um, and other overhead costs like the cost for human resources, um, IT and finance.

10:04

Enterprise funds are supposed to be self-sustaining, so their revenues are really closely tied to their service delivery, and using funds outside of their intended purpose can violate GASBE or governmental accounting standards board standards, and it can also lead to audit findings or legal issues.

10:22

Enterprise funds cannot be used for any general government function like health, parks, or fire, and they also cannot be used to subsidize unrelated government operations.

10:35

And then these are our two groups of enterprise funds.

10:38

We have the transportation group, which covers airport, parking, transit, railroad, and transload, and then we have the utilities that we own, which are sewer, solid waste, stormwater, water, and electric.

10:54

Please let us know if you all have any questions at any time.

10:57

We can stop and answer those.

11:00

So just because they're sensitive microphones doesn't mean you don't need to talk louder and into the microphone, Matthew.

11:06

I feel like I was talking up.

11:08

I I need to get closer to the microphone with what you tell.

11:11

So uh where the money comes from, we will start off talking about transportation enterprise funds and where the revenue comes from for those funds.

11:25

And so with transportation, you have about 50% or close to 50% of your funds come from uh the fees for service, but you have a large chunk that comes from grants and the other type of revenue or other governmental revenue, and this is because the airport and transit are highly subsidized by grants, and also the transportation sales tax.

11:52

So first we'll look at the airport, and so the airport uh looks fairly good right now.

12:00

Um this does include a transfer to the vehicle and equipment replacement fund.

12:07

Uh here's your operating cash or your operating forecast for the airport.

12:12

Uh we do have a fairly significant amount of uh money that will be going into CIP, but we'll talk about that a little later.

12:20

I guess we'll talk about that on Monday.

12:23

Um with and how that looks and sort of how that acts as well.

12:28

Uh but we're looking at about 4.5 million cash above the required reserve at the end of fiscal year 27.

12:36

So that's what what is projected at this time.

12:44

So a couple of things that came from our internal budget review.

12:49

Um we decreased the marketing budget to sort of to offset some costs for travel and training uh in the airport department, and that was mostly because we had to get the uh air rescue firefighters trained up due to FAA regulations.

13:09

And so uh the department will utilize the communications department a little more heavily this year.

13:15

So that so be because of that, uh the outcome of the review, the basically what we will do to supplement that is go through the city communications department.

13:28

Can I ask a question?

13:30

Um, I know that a lot of our kind of um agreements with some of the airlines was in promise that we would do marketing.

13:37

Does this impact at all any of those um sort of guarantees or promises that we made?

13:44

Sorry, Mike.

13:47

No, it doesn't change uh what we will put into the marketing itself, and so this is really the only change that we're gonna do is utilize $15,000 that we cut.

13:56

We'll utilize communications, and so the quarterly newsletters we do, those extra things that we do, we'll utilize communications to be able to accomplish those to save those funds.

14:08

Okay, awesome.

14:08

Thank you.

14:09

Appreciate that.

14:14

Next, we'll look at the parking fund.

14:17

Um right now we're expecting about 500,000 um revenues over expenditures.

14:28

So the the parking fund looks as good as it looks right now because uh we ended up freeing up around a million dollars from that uh I can't remember exactly.

14:42

The RPPO program, the residential parking by permit only program.

14:46

So there's gonna we sent a report to council uh a couple sessions ago.

14:51

Um that's gonna get brought forward as a resolution to release that cash.

14:56

You should, I think it's on first read in this first meeting, and it'll be approved by the second meeting, provided council approves it.

15:02

But that will free up about a million dollars and operating cash, and that is going a long way to help the parking fund be a little more solvent right now.

15:13

And uh our PPO is residential parking and bipartit only that was used to be in 2018 budget.

15:20

We are trying to remove that program and free up the cash, which is that out 1 million 85,000.

15:30

And then uh we did some uh work last year about uh adjusting the um uh parking rate at the street now.

15:38

We are proposing to adjust that or make it at the power for the street and the garages.

15:44

Right now we are paying the street meters at one dollar per hour while someone who parked at the garage garage is two one dollar per two hours.

15:55

Uh I would like to remind that within that two two hours, the fast one hour at the garage is entirely free.

16:02

And also if you see the enforcement hour for street meters this Monday to Saturday while at the garage, it's a Monday to Friday.

16:10

So we did the internal study to see what if hap would hap happen if we implement this uh street enforcement and the rate, and we found that it would increase uh um uh our revenue by around uh uh three hundred fifty thousand if we readjust our rate So we're planning on collecting fees for parking in garages on Saturdays as well now.

16:43

Uh no, so they're gonna enforce parking.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Water And Wastewater Management████████████████████████████████████████████44%
Fiscal Sustainability████████████████████████████████████36%
Transportation Safety█████████████13%
Technology and Innovation████4%
Public Safety██2%
Affordable Housing1%
Summary of Proceedings

FY2027 Enterprise Funds Budget Work Session

The City of Columbia held its second FY2027 budget work session on July 15, 2026, focusing on enterprise funds (transportation and utilities). Staff presented operating forecasts, cash positions, and proposed rate changes for each fund. Council members discussed parking enforcement, solid waste downtown rates, sewer realignment, water and electric rate increases, and other fiscal matters. No formal votes were taken; proposals will be introduced as ordinances in upcoming council meetings.

Discussion Items

Enterprise Fund Overview

  • Matthew Liu explained that enterprise funds must be self-sustaining, generating revenue through user fees; they cannot subsidize general government functions. The two groups are transportation (airport, parking, transit, railroad, transload) and utilities (sewer, solid waste, stormwater, water, electric).

Airport

  • Projected $4.5 million cash above required reserve at end of FY27. Internal budget review cut marketing by $15,000 (shifted to city communications) to offset FAA-required air rescue firefighter training. Councilmember asked if this affects airline agreements; staff confirmed it does not.

Parking

  • Projected $500,000 revenue over expenditures. A $1 million cash release from the Residential Parking Permit Only (RPPO) program is expected to be approved by council. Proposed changes: enforce hourly parking in garages on Saturdays (currently free), reduce free grace period from 60 to 30 minutes to improve turnover. Staff estimated $350,000 additional revenue from adjusting rates and Saturday enforcement. Councilmembers expressed concerns about impacts on downtown businesses and game-day parking. Discussion of future license plate reader (ALPR) technology to improve data and enforcement, but no immediate plan.

Transit

  • Projected $1.2 million deficit, largely due to declining pandemic-era grant revenues.

Railroad

  • Projected $14,000 surplus, supported by $500,000 in subsidies from utilities.

Transload

  • Projected $70,000 deficit, but subsidies from utilities have decreased as revenue improves.

Sewer

  • FY27 budget shows $3.6 million revenue over expenditures. No overall rate increase proposed. Staff recommended realigning residential base and volume charges based on cost-of-service: base rate drops from $12.37 to $11.10; volume charge increases. For users up to 5 CCF, bills decrease by $0.61/month; heavier users pay more. Non-residential base charges also decrease. Hauled waste fees shift to per-gallon charges. Extra strength charges adjusted. Sewer connection fees increase from $2,400 to $2,800. Council discussed impact on affordable housing and utility assistance; staff noted that assistance comes from general fund, not utilities. Councilmember Valerie questioned whether fee waivers exist for CHDOs; staff will clarify.

Solid Waste

  • FY27 budget shows $1.9 million revenue under expenditures, driven by capital outlay (vehicles, automated recycling carts). Cash above target drops from $4 million to $680,000. Staff proposed a 5% revenue increase (about $1.5 million) for FY27, with higher increases in later years. Residential cart fees: 35-gallon and 65-gallon increase in FY27; 95-gallon stays flat. Commercial rates unified into a simpler structure; downtown CID currently under-recovering by about $200,000 (cost $700k, revenue $500k). Staff announced an audit of downtown billing (expected completion by end of calendar year). Council discussed whether to delay rate changes until audit is complete. Councilmember Valerie supported freezing rates temporarily; staff will provide cost impact information. Councilmember Christina asked about crediting overpayments; staff noted complexity of charging back underpayers. Staff will explore better notification of business changes (e.g., via licensing).

Stormwater

  • Projected $1.9 million revenue over expenditures; cash stable around $4 million above target.

Water

  • FY27 budget shows $4 million revenue over expenditures, but cash declines to below target due to capital projects (water main replacements, I-70 relocations, well rehabilitation). Staff proposed a 10% rate increase (base and volume charges) for FY27, generating $3.4 million. Water and Light Advisory Board recommended the increase. For a typical user (5 CCF, winter quarter average), bill would be $32.78 (still lower than FY25’s $34.72). Tiered rates encourage conservation; peak users pay more.

Electric

  • FY27 budget shows $1 million revenue over expenditures, but cash declines sharply due to power purchase costs and $10 million restricted for future CIP. Staff proposed a 6% rate increase (all tiers) to generate $8.6 million; customer charge unchanged. Staff also proposed increasing the Power Cost Adjustment (PCA) cap from 15% to 20% to recover uncovered costs (currently $10 million under-recovered). Discussion of delayed projects (landfill gas generator, Bull SAD feeder, roof replacement) to show fiscal responsibility.

Key Outcomes

  • Parking: Staff will bring forward a resolution to release $1M from RPPO. Council will consider Saturday garage enforcement and 30-minute free period; no decision made. Staff will study ALPR technology for future.
  • Sewer: Proposed fee changes to be introduced as ordinance; no overall rate increase. Council to consider impact on affordable housing and utility assistance.
  • Solid Waste: Staff will provide cost impact of delaying downtown rate changes until audit is complete. Ordinance with proposed rates will be on Monday’s agenda; council may amend.
  • Water: 10% rate increase to be introduced as ordinance; Water and Light Advisory Board supports.
  • Electric: 6% rate increase and PCA cap increase to 20% to be formally proposed; council feedback sought first.
  • General: All ordinances will be introduced at first read on July 20, 2026, with second read and possible vote at the next council meeting.

Meeting Transcript

We're gonna go ahead and kick off our second of our fiscal year twenty-seven City of Columbia budget work sessions. Um this one is focused on our enterprise funds. A reminder for those who uh were at the health department on Monday or watching online, or however else, we talked about the general fund on Monday's work session. Uh today we're talking about enterprise fund. Friday is the rest, as well as any follow-up and the new decision items conversation. So I'm gonna kick it over to Matthew Liu. Okay. Um of providing service. Similar to a private business, they generate revenue through user fees and charges for service, but all of those revenues must be spent on activities that are directly related to the enterprise they're collected for. So that can include operating expenses, capital improvements, debt service, um, vehicle and equipment replacement purchases. Um, and other overhead costs like the cost for human resources, um, IT and finance. Enterprise funds are supposed to be self-sustaining, so their revenues are really closely tied to their service delivery, and using funds outside of their intended purpose can violate GASBE or governmental accounting standards board standards, and it can also lead to audit findings or legal issues. Enterprise funds cannot be used for any general government function like health, parks, or fire, and they also cannot be used to subsidize unrelated government operations. And then these are our two groups of enterprise funds. We have the transportation group, which covers airport, parking, transit, railroad, and transload, and then we have the utilities that we own, which are sewer, solid waste, stormwater, water, and electric. Please let us know if you all have any questions at any time. We can stop and answer those. So just because they're sensitive microphones doesn't mean you don't need to talk louder and into the microphone, Matthew. I feel like I was talking up. I I need to get closer to the microphone with what you tell. So uh where the money comes from, we will start off talking about transportation enterprise funds and where the revenue comes from for those funds. And so with transportation, you have about 50% or close to 50% of your funds come from uh the fees for service, but you have a large chunk that comes from grants and the other type of revenue or other governmental revenue, and this is because the airport and transit are highly subsidized by grants, and also the transportation sales tax. So first we'll look at the airport, and so the airport uh looks fairly good right now. Um this does include a transfer to the vehicle and equipment replacement fund. Uh here's your operating cash or your operating forecast for the airport. Uh we do have a fairly significant amount of uh money that will be going into CIP, but we'll talk about that a little later. I guess we'll talk about that on Monday. Um with and how that looks and sort of how that acts as well. Uh but we're looking at about 4.5 million cash above the required reserve at the end of fiscal year 27. So that's what what is projected at this time. So a couple of things that came from our internal budget review. Um we decreased the marketing budget to sort of to offset some costs for travel and training uh in the airport department, and that was mostly because we had to get the uh air rescue firefighters trained up due to FAA regulations. And so uh the department will utilize the communications department a little more heavily this year. So that so be because of that, uh the outcome of the review, the basically what we will do to supplement that is go through the city communications department. Can I ask a question? Um, I know that a lot of our kind of um agreements with some of the airlines was in promise that we would do marketing. Does this impact at all any of those um sort of guarantees or promises that we made? Sorry, Mike. No, it doesn't change uh what we will put into the marketing itself, and so this is really the only change that we're gonna do is utilize $15,000 that we cut. We'll utilize communications, and so the quarterly newsletters we do, those extra things that we do, we'll utilize communications to be able to accomplish those to save those funds. Okay, awesome. Thank you. Appreciate that. Next, we'll look at the parking fund. Um right now we're expecting about 500,000 um revenues over expenditures. So the the parking fund looks as good as it looks right now because uh we ended up freeing up around a million dollars from that uh I can't remember exactly. The RPPO program, the residential parking by permit only program. So there's gonna we sent a report to council uh a couple sessions ago. Um that's gonna get brought forward as a resolution to release that cash. You should, I think it's on first read in this first meeting, and it'll be approved by the second meeting, provided council approves it.

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