The Wichita City Council held a workshop on April 22, 2025, from 9:00 AM to discuss the current status of the operating budget and the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). Finance staff presented updated revenue and expenditure forecasts, forecasting risks, and initial CIP draft considerations. Council members debated policy options for property tax mill levies, potential sales tax measures, and the balance between maintenance and enhancement/expansion projects. No formal votes were taken; staff received general direction to prioritize maintenance in the CIP and to prepare two budget scenarios for further discussion.
Aye. Aye. All those opposed, same sign. Motion passes 6 0. We are now adjourned, and we will now begin workshop. I know it's really cold. City manager late. Thank you, Mayor. So we have just one workshop item today, and that's discussion of the budget, our current status. What we're learning as we go through expenditures and revenues for 25, how we're now rethinking a little bit on 26 and 27, bring you up to date with all of that. We have new estimates on expenditures that reflect the projects that we shared with you in workshop before that were our off-season projects, so that has helped the budget a little bit. And then also we're gonna present uh some initial thoughts on the CIP. Um we the staff has put together uh an initial draft, however, we're out of balance with the CIP, and so we're gonna be asking for some general direction as we bring that uh document into balance. Um, and I uh we're gonna bring some policy considerations forward on the CIB. So, with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Elizabeth Goldry. Good morning. Umtree, I'm from the finance department, and I'm here to give you an update on the operating budget. Um, if you're just joining us online for the first time today, just as a reminder, we also had budget workshops on January 28th and February 25th. You can find that information on YouTube. And if you're interested in the budget documents, for example, you can find them at Wichita.gov by searching for budget. The outline for today's presentation is that I will provide an update on the operating budget. Then Mark Manning, the finance director, will provide an update on the app on the capital improvement program or CIP, and then I'll finish us up with some next steps as we move forward. Um, as far as the budget operating budget goes, right now we're we're in the middle of the story, so to speak. Um, we kicked off the process in January, and the budget will be presented in July. At this point, we are continuing to update and update our models, um, review data to um, we're constantly reviewing and updating the models. Um, I will go into a little more detail on forecasting risks. Generally, those remain the same as the last time we provided a budget update. Um, and then just generally the trends overall are consistent with expectations. Um, the biggest change in the model compared to last time is an adjustment to pension rates. As far as our forecasting risk goes, just to be um transparent with all of you, position vacancy rates are um a forecast risk both when it comes to overspending or underspending. Um, we've been monitoring the level position vacancies. Right now, there are slightly fewer position vacancies than there were at this point last year, which is really good news. Um, but that was a factor when it came to our ending position in 2024, so we continue to monitor monitor that so that we have the right amount of position vacancies modeled in the budget that don't prevent departments from filling positions but reflect the reality of our position, our staffing as it is right now. Um there's a lot of uncertainty related to economic conditions and monetary proper monetary policy, excuse me. Um, and then property tax growth rates is another forecasting risk that I'll go into more detail on. Um, and then the final forecasting risk is labor rates for 2026 and 2027. Um, at this point, there are three labor contracts that expire at the end of 2025. So that's a risk for 2026, a risk in the sense of forecasting risk in the sense that we don't know exactly what those labor rates will be. And then for 2027, we don't have any contracts in place for that year. So that is a forecasting risk when it comes to estimating labor costs. These are some items that we've um provided an update on last time. So just going to give you another update this time. Court revenues. Last time we told you that they were performing underperforming compared to the 2025 adopted budget. That trend is continuing. Um I looked at the first quarter of this year and compared it to the first quarter, is generally a good quarter, um the quarter when municipal court receives the most revenue in a given year. The quarter when municipal court receives the most revenue in a given year. Based on the first quarter of this year, I expect that court revenues will be a million dollars less than what I predict projected at the last workshop. Franchise fees on the other hand, the first quarter was very strong, particularly in the area of natural gas, as a result of the very cold weather that we experienced during that period. Interest earnings are something that we're constantly watching.