Finance Committee Reviews 2026 Operating Budget - November 11, 2025
Finance Committee Reviews 2026 Operating Budget - November 11, 2025
The Finance Committee met on November 11, 2025, at 3:00 PM in City Hall Council Chambers to review and discuss proposed operating budgets for the Economic Development, Engineering, Public Works, and Police departments for fiscal year 2026. The meeting included presentations on accomplishments, goals, and budget requests. No public comments were received.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the motion summary of the Finance Committee meeting held on November 3, 2025, as recorded and transcribed, by unanimous voice vote.
Public Comments & Testimony
- None were offered. No emails, letters, or petitions were received.
Discussion Items
- Economic Development (Nic Langford): Langford highlighted FY25 accomplishments including the OBJ Maradel project (zoning approved, school compensation agreement), downtown hotel RFQ (four proposals received), affordable housing projects (Greenwood Commons broke ground; Reserve at Northbourne, 157 units at or below 60% AMI), and the launch of a Vacant Box Showcase (December 2) and a small business training event (120 registered). For 2026, goals include groundbreaking for the Maradel amphitheater/hockey arena, a downtown hotel, a mixed-use six-story building with parking deck, and Gateway Commerce Park. He requested increasing the economic development reserve fund from $75,000 to $250,000 to attract catalytic opportunities and support matching grants. Budget highlights: $114,834 for income tax sharing, $25,000 for travel/training, and $26,000 in dues (including $22,000 for One Columbus).
- City Engineer (Jonathan Owen): Owen presented the engineering operating budget, noting most funds are in capital improvement projects. Key budget items: $225,000 for general professional services, $925,000 for land development costs (recouped via fees), $210,000 for right-of-way activity (recouped). Personnel: 10 staff with one vacancy; reorganized into design and construction services. FY25 accomplishments: $3.3 million in grant applications, revised engineering standards for street lighting (cost savings), and paving of 13-14 streets. For 2026: implement transportation impact fees, achieve 90% compliance on review timelines, scope US 42 improvements to facilitate economic growth, deliver Bixby Parkway, and advocate for US 23 corridor improvements (citing $1-2 billion cost for 23 Connect — Owen recommended the city focus on the existing corridor over a bypass). Also stressed the need for additional local paving funds (currently $0 local program).
- Public Works (Bill Ferrigno): Ferrigno overviewed the $15.3 million budget covering streets, traffic, airport, refuse, and garage (48 FTE + 2 part-time). Personnel requests: one additional traffic technician, one part-time refuse technician, and restructuring to add a second supervisor in refuse. Accomplishments: completed airport taxi lane paving and AWOS weather system; distributed 15,686 of 16,400 recycling toters (over 90% coverage); deployed a new grapple truck (used for storm cleanup on first day); and demolished the old Arco building (to become green space). Budget highlights: $130,000 for bridge maintenance, $200,000 for handicap ramp replacements, $168,000 in fuel for refuse division. No refuse rate increase planned for 2026. Fleet building expansion is a priority but not in the capital plan. Discussed potential restructuring to make engineering more autonomous.
- Police Chief (Adam Moore): Moore presented the $14 million operating budget, a 6.2% increase; 92% of the budget is personnel-related. Currently authorized for 60 sworn officers (54-56 filled, 4 openings, plus 6 in academy). Requested three additional officers: two for patrol growth and one for a school resource officer at the new Olentangy High School (fall 2027). Also requested a parking coordinator and a civilian communications/public relations specialist. FY25 accomplishments: wellness checks for all staff (funded by ARPA), equipped all officers with tasers, expanded Flock safety camera network (17 cameras), and shifted the city jail to a temporary holding facility (reducing liability). Training budget increased 63% due to onboarding 9 officers in 2025. Goals for 2026: pursue Ohio collaborative accreditation (OACLEA), continue aggressive training, and improve public communications.
Key Outcomes
- The committee heard the four budget presentations and will continue the budget review process at the next meeting on Thursday, November 13, 2025, covering HR, Planning, Fire, IT, and Public Utilities.
- No formal votes were taken on budget items; discussion will inform the proposed 2026 operating budget to be presented to the full Council.
- The committee expressed appreciation for the detailed presentations and acknowledged the need for additional staffing and infrastructure funding across departments, particularly for road paving, parking management, and police hiring.
- Chair Schaefer noted the next meeting will include "HR, planning, fire, IT, and public utilities."
Meeting Transcript
All right, good afternoon, everybody. It's three o'clock. We will call to order the City of Delaware's Finance Committee meeting for November 11th, 2025. Roll call, please. Mr. Hoffman. Here. Mayor Rickel? Chair Schaefer. Yeah. Item two's approval of the motion summary. Approval of the motion summary of the finance committee meeting held on November 3rd, 2025 is recorded and transcribed. Move for approval. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed. Item three is public comment. Do we have any emails or otherwise? No, sir. And we have no public, so I think we're good. All right, we'll move into review and discussion. First up, Nick Link for economic development. Greetings, members of the Finance Committee. First off, I'd like to start with some accomplishments that we had in fiscal year 25. So I'd say our biggest project we've been working on is the OBJ Meradell project. So we got the Zoein approved. We got the school compensation agreement approved by the Delaware City School District. A couple more hurdles we'll have to get over, but I'm pretty pretty hopeful we can break some ground in quarter one of next year. And stop me anytime you have questions. We drafted an RFQ for the downtown hotel last week, or actually on Monday, it's yesterday. We received four proposals. So we're going to start grading those and ultimately inviting two or three to submit full-blown proposals with ultimate disposition slated to come from the county CIC. Affordable housing, so we've got Greenwood Commons. Home port, they broke ground this uh last week. Um the reserve at Northbourne, which um has all their entitlements in place. They haven't broken ground yet. That's a metro development. So uh 157 units at or below 60 percent AMI. So um, you know, trying to keep pace with the the housing that's needed for uh keeping up for workforce development and ultimately just uh you know be good stewards for our citizens. Um groundbreakings and pipeline, so the Cobra Marketplace over where the city manager lives nearby. I'm sure Paul's been keeping track of that more than I have, but they're um definitely moving some dirt. Uh Pittsburgh Flex uh broke ground uh last quarter, so that's um at the corner of Pittsburgh Drive and section line, 55,000 square feet of industrial flex space. Um and then Foundations Health, uh which is the senior living facility across the street from Kroger Marketplace. Um and then Fed One Innovation Court, which has not broken ground yet, but has the entitlements in place and are currently working through those the ability to break ground soon. Uh strategically, we adopted the citywide CRA policy and included provisions for mixed income housing. Um I've created the highest best use sort of land development program, which um uses this uh test fit program that we have that essentially um kind of helps some ideations for different land development uh in conjunction and working with um the planning department uh uh attract highest and best use for uh major land projects, uh Catalytic sites. Um we've launched a new program, the Vacant Box Showcase. That's going to be happening on um December 2nd. It's a new downtown event. Um hoping it goes well, and then we can just do it every year, maybe do it twice a year.
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