Ames City leaders outline budget timeline, explain tax breakdown and major capital needs

City Manager Steve Shanker opened the annual town budget meeting and asked residents for input as the City of Ames prepares the FY2026-27 operating budget and five-year capital improvement plan. "I wanna welcome you to our annual town budget meeting," Shanker said, describing the session as the start of a months-long process that ends with council decisions in February.

Finance staff reviewed the schedule and statutory steps for the budget process, noting a citizen satisfaction survey, a CIP workshop in January and a public adoption target in April. Finance Director Corey Goodnow explained how the city's portion of a property tax bill is assembled and gave numeric examples of recent levies: the general fund levy was presented as about $31.1 million before credits and roughly $23.3 million after state replacement and sales-tax offsets, producing a consolidated city rate near $10.30 per $1,000 of taxable value.

Goodnow illustrated the distribution of a representative tax payment, showing how the city portion funds streets, police, fire, utilities and other services. He also outlined major revenue sources and capital obligations: charges for services (about $109 million) account for a large share of city revenue; the city is in the midst of an approximately $65 million water pollution control facility upgrade, and staff said roughly 32% of revenue is going to capital projects.

In response to an audience question, staff gave all-funds figures for the current year: operations approximately $163 million, CIP just over $98 million, debt service around $21.3 million and internal services near $24 million. Shanker cautioned that enterprise funds are treated as separate businesses and their reserves cannot be moved to the general fund to pay for unrelated projects.

Why it matters: staff stressed that the city must balance long-range capital needs with operational affordability. Shanker said the city tries to level increases over multiple years to avoid sudden spikes in utility rates or property taxes and urged residents to submit priorities as the council develops the final budget.

Next steps: staff said the CIP will be unveiled Jan. 20, budget hearings will be held in late January and the City Council is scheduled to make final budget decisions in February.