City budget and finances

Council member Adams asked why the community connector outreach component was not funded this year, given low racial and ethnic diversity on city staff. Staff said the residents portion of the program was funded but the outreach piece was not, and offered to follow up.

Mayor Pro Tem Tara Winer asked about funding sources to keep Spruce Pool open, since one-time funding only covers 2027 operations. Parks director Ally Rhodess said the cost of running pools has outpaced revenue and this is a 2027 work plan issue for the department.

Council member Kaplan asked about reserve funding for facility replacement. Deputy facilities director Michelle Crane explained the city sets aside 2% of a building's replacement value each year to fund equipment replacement, not full rebuilds, and this practice started in 2021.

Staff described the Fund Our Future community engagement process, which reached over 500 people this spring on trade-offs among 25 city services. Top community priorities were wildfire resilience, city facilities maintenance, public safety, and affordable housing. Council member Winer praised the budget document and the realignment work; council member Speer said last-minute changes should follow existing policy, not bypass it.

CFO Christa Morrison and budget officer Charlotte Husky presented the 2027 recommended budget. The total budget is $552.6 million, the operating budget is $417.2 million (a 2.35% increase), and the capital budget is $135.4 million. Staff identified a $6.3 million gap in the general fund and asked departments for 4% savings.

“The 2027 rep recommended budget is 552.6 million across all funds.”

Several speakers asked council to restore funding for Spruce Pool, citing its accessibility for elderly and disabled swimmers, its role as overflow capacity for other pools, and its century-long history. Staff said Parks and Recreation faces an ongoing funding shortfall, is funding Spruce Pool for one more year only, has no funding indicated for 2028, and is meeting with pool supporters to discuss options.

Taishya Adams asked for clear criteria on when the city would use reserves for wildfire response, and asked about a zero-interest revolving loan fund for home hardening costs. Staff said reserve criteria remain a council-level decision and creative funding options are under study but not yet proposed.

City Manager Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde said staff already has an auditor hired last year and is working with CFO Christa Morrison on a community advisory panel to oversee capital projects going forward. Mayor Brockett noted council members have publicized facilities budget information through a podcast.

Ryan Schuchard asked for more use of statistically valid, communitywide surveys to guide the plan rather than self-selected feedback, and for the plan to set national-standard service delivery benchmarks for the city as a service provider. Nicole Speer asked staff to treat growing public hostility toward city workers as a named risk category, alongside climate and economic threats.

“I would like us to see a greater proportion of information we get that is about community engagement...coming from statistically valid communitywide surveys”

Matt Benjamin said the strategic plan should drive reform of the city's annual budget process toward a two-year budget cycle, calling it a multi-year project that belongs in the plan. He said this would improve long-term financial strategy work and community engagement on the budget.

“reforming our budget process to be a budget for us by all of us”

Matt Benjamin asked staff to add a full rewrite of Title 9 as a signature strategic plan item, since council flagged it at retreat and it is the main tool to implement the comprehensive plan. He also asked staff to add multi-year budget process reform, including a move to a two-year budget, as a strategic plan item.

“reforming and rewriting Title 9 has to be signature um in this going forward”

Matt Benjamin pushed for the strategic plan to fold in reform of the city's budget process, including a move to a two-year budget, saying the current annual process is not yet good enough to support the plan's financial-stewardship goals.

Matt Benjamin said he was unsure whose strategic plan this is, and felt council was being brought in after staff had already shaped the content instead of leading the process from the start. Rob Kaplan separately asked staff to explain the scoring methodology behind the prioritization tool used to narrow 170 proposals to 41 inputs.

“I'm not sure whose strategic plan this is.”

Taishya Adams said the process started without baseline budget, outcome, and climate data, and without council or boards at the table from the start. She said this creates an imbalance of power and makes the process feel like staff is directing council rather than the reverse.

“this is a prime example of why the community feels that the staff is wagging the dog as it relates to the council”

Taishya Adams, who said she has led strategic planning for 30 years, objected that the process started without baseline budget-versus-actuals data or outcomes from the last plan, and without council or boards at the table when the prioritization tool was built. She called it a case of staff "wagging the dog" and said she could not name priorities without that data.

“I have never started that process off without a landscape analysis with data on the current plans and outcomes and outputs and budgetary information.”

Staff, Pam Davis and Matt Chisansky, presented the process for the new citywide strategic plan covering 2027 to 2030. Staff collected 170 staff proposals and narrowed them to about 41 draft inputs called the world of possibilities, using a scoring rubric based on alignment with city goals, complexity, urgency, and service tier.

“we're doing it right and we're looking to get you involved, get community involved”

Staff (Pam Davis, Matt Chasansky) opened the process for the next four-year citywide strategic plan. They took 170 staff proposals and cut the list to about 41 items in a "world of possibilities" document, scored with a rubric that weighs alignment to the SER framework, complexity, urgency, regulatory impact, and service tier. A full council touch point is planned for the January pre-retreat study session, with a community workshop on November 14.

Charlotte Huskey said city revenue has grown 3.3 percentage points slower than expenses in recent years, forcing a hiring freeze and 5% operational cuts in 2025 to close an $8-10 million shortfall, and reductions in 2026 to close a $7.5 million shortfall. She said the 2027 budget faces a projected $6.5 million gap in the general fund.

Mayor Brockett noted restaurants face several added cost pressures this year: another 8 percent minimum wage increase, a possible new property tax for early childhood care, and a transportation maintenance fee not yet being collected. He raised these as context for why the tip offset debate is happening now.

Mark Wallach asked if the city studied other financing, such as a bond or a certificate of participation, instead of FAA grants; staff said only a state infrastructure bank loan had been identified and any alternative would compete with other city facility needs.

Consultant Micah Intermill and budget analyst Stacy Polleycove reported Fund Our Future engagement results showing renters ranked affordable housing investment first while homeowners ranked it near last, a split driven by the survey sample being mostly older, higher-income homeowners. Both groups agreed on wildfire response and core maintenance as top priorities.

“renters rank affordable housing investments number one... homeowners rank it near the bottom”

Taishya Adams raised equity concerns about the ballot poll's demographic makeup, noting only four Black and one Indigenous respondents and heavy skew toward homeowners over renters. The pollster said the survey targeted likely voters, not the full community, which explains the narrower demographic mix.

“I have significant concerns around only four African-Americans or black-identifying residents responding”

CFO Krista Morrison traced the city's structural budget imbalance back to the 2008 and 2010 Blue Ribbon Commission reports, citing heavy sales tax reliance, dedicated revenue that limits flexibility, and cost inflation outpacing revenue growth. She said a full long-term financial plan is due in November 2026.

“an over-reliance on sales tax, which is a very volatile revenue source”