City manager presents revised FY26–27 budget; council asked to approve and monitor cuts

City Manager Chase Carey reviewed the changes made since the previous budget workshop and recommended the council move forward with the current draft while directing staff to seek further efficiencies over the next 12 months.

He outlined specific edits, saying, "The assistant city manager position was eliminated. We transferred $100,000 to EMS which allows the increase in EMS salary adjustments from 5% ... to 12%." Carey told the council the package shows a roughly $331,991 projected surplus but reminded members that the city began the cycle with a roughly 4% deficit that the current cuts have narrowed.

Council members pressed staff for clearer provenance of recent transfers from the management district (DMD) and the EDC and for line-by-line documentation of encumbrances. Finance staff pointed the council to the general fund summary and fund pages (packet pages cited during the meeting) and agreed to compile a list of DMD/EDC allocations and obligations.

Members also asked staff to build contingency estimates for known uncertainties—chiefly legal-service costs now being covered by outside counsel—and to include a six-month review point to revisit difficult items such as animal‑services funding and street projects. Carey and finance staff agreed to return with updated line items and contractor/engineer cost estimates at the next meeting.