Glendale council adopts FY2027 budget, updates fees and approves switch from QuickBooks to Cassell

Glendale's Town Council voted unanimously June 18 to adopt a fiscal year 2027 budget, approve an updated consolidated fee schedule and move the town's accounting system from QuickBooks to Cassell.

The council's chair opened the annual public hearing on the budget and read the proposed totals: a proposed operating expense of $202,860 and total revenue of $207,450. After public questions and a short discussion about reconciling last year's ledger, the council voted to reconcile the 2026 budget and then passed Resolution 6-18-26-1 to adopt the FY2027 budget.

Why it matters: council members said adopting a clear budget and consolidating software subscriptions will reduce duplicated work and improve the town's ability to generate regular financial statements. The town expects the migration to Cassell to eliminate a separate QuickBooks subscription and an invoicing/cloud service line item, producing net savings (council members estimated roughly $9,009 in annual net savings though transition costs were noted).

During debate, council members discussed the mechanics and timing of the software change. A council member said the Cassell transition could be "a little time consuming" at the start but added it would produce monthly and quarterly financial statements with the push of a button. The council also directed staff to reconcile prior-year figures after noticing discrepancies between previously reported totals and newly computed numbers.

The council also approved an updated consolidated fee schedule, adopted as written after members confirmed no separate public hearing was required for the update. The vote on the fee schedule was unanimous.

Next steps: staff will coordinate the Cassell conversion with the vendor and notify residents about any short-term billing interruptions. The council scheduled follow-up work as needed to complete reconciliation of prior-year accounting.