After weeks of public hearings, Committee of the Whole Chairperson Renée Grout introduced the City Council’s substitute budget for the 2027 fiscal year, and opening the process for final council-sponsored amendments to finalize the budget before a June 1 deadline.
Grout’s version follows Mayor Tim Keller’s budget proposal from earlier this year, but includes changes she made based on requests from the community and other councilors during the budget process. City departments presented their budgets to the nine-member committee over two previous meetings, where the public was able to voice their support or express concerns about the mayor’s funding plans.
Grout’s changes significantly change the mayor’s original proposed budget. Here are three of the biggest changes in Grout’s version.
- The substitute budget prioritizes employee retention and compensation, which were identified by a 2024 classification and compensation study. It reserves $3.7 million to implement the study’s findings to bring full-time city positions to at least the 25th percentile benchmark. Also, $4.5 million is reserved for a 1% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for full-time employees.
- The substitute also removed the mayor’s fee and surcharge hike for things like stormwater fees, solid waste convenience fees and a BioPark weekend surcharge for Burqueños.
- Restores some of the 270 positions the mayor’s proposal cut, including transit drivers and mechanics, and positions in code enforcement, Open Space and parks maintenance.
Grout said her staff found an $11.8 million discrepancy in the administration’s figures, which helped bridge the mayor’s projected $30 million gap. Her version balances the budget by using “creative ways” like increasing a transfer from the automated speed enforcement fund to the general fund by more than $3.6 million.
Grout said the public drove these adjustments. “We listened to our constituents, the people that wrote us emails, the people that came and spoke at council meetings,” Grout said. “It’s important that we take care of [our investments] and then take care of our employees.”
Grout’s budget serves as the starting point in the final stage of the council budget process, as other councilors lobby each other to support their priorities and include them in amendments. While Grout said she is unsure what specific amendments her colleagues will introduce, she said that in preliminary discussions, “everybody said salary or employees” were their top concerns.
Tonight’s budget markup meeting will not include public comment. Councilors are expected to vote on a final budget at the regular council meeting May 18. If they need more time, a special meeting is scheduled for May 27 to approve any changes. If councilors do not approve their version by June 1, the city will send Mayor Keller’s original budget to the state, though council can still amend the budget throughout the year.