City of Columbia, Missouri  
Meeting Minutes - Final  
City Council  
City Hall  
Wednesday, July 16, 2025  
2:00 PM  
Budget Work Session  
Council Chamber  
701 E. Broadway  
Columbia, MO.  
I. CALL TO ORDER  
Mayor Buffaloe called the meeting to order at approximately 2:00 p.m.  
6 - Buffaloe, Foster, Waterman, Peters, Carroll, and Sample  
Present:  
Enterprise Funds Presentation  
Attachments: FY26 Budget Work Session Presentation  
Matthew Lue, Finance Director, started the presentation with some definitions clarifying  
what enterprise funds are. These funds are used to provide services to the public on a  
user-charged basis. The revenue generated from these funds support the operations and  
services of the fund. This revenue must be spent on activities directly related to the fund,  
so they must be tied to the service. These revenues may not be used for general  
government functions, such as police or parks. Matthew clarified that the revenue may go  
towards security at their own facilities. This may also be spelled out in city ordinance or  
code.  
The City has two types of enterprise funds - transportation and utilities. For the  
transportation enterprise funds, the revenue primarily comes from transfers, service  
charges, and revenue from other governmental units (i.e. grants). For the utility enterprise  
funds, the revenue is primarily from service charges.  
Staff reviewed the various funds. Included in these are the actuals from FY 23 and FY 24,  
the projected FY 25, and the proposed FY 26, as well as the total revenue, total  
expenditure, ending available cash, the 20% cash reserve target, and the amount  
over/under that target for each year listed.  
Staff from the departments spoke, beginning with the Airport. Mike Parks from the Airport  
discussed an upcoming review of airport fees which have remained the same since the  
early 2010s. He also noted the projected increase in funding for FY 26 is primarily due to  
anticipated one-time grant revenue. Matthew noted a plan to evaluate fees citywide after  
the FY 26 budget is complete.  
Deep Debnath, Economist, provided an overview of the in-house work staff has done to  
evaluate the parking rates. Currently there is an additional one time $0.55 fee for users  
who use the ParkMobile app while users who use coins only pay $0.60/hour. Staff  
propose increasing the overall rate to $1.00/hour. James Faup, Parking Manager, noted  
that this proposed increase had not been shared with the Parks Commission yet, due to  
lack of quorum at the previous two scheduled meetings. He noted that the current rate  
structure has been in place since 2011, though there have been some changes to the  
permit structures. Overall, this change would lead to an anticipated revenue increase of  
$300,000.  
Jim McDonald, Assistant Finance Director, reviewed Transit, noting it appears to be fairly  
stable due to operating grant revenue from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) as well as  
a transfer from Transportation Sales Tax (TST). While discussing Railroad, he noted that  
the fund will need to be subsidized by the other Utilities to ensure they stay at their cash  
reserve. Erin Keys, Utilities Director, provided a brief overview of the Railroad utility. Jim  
highlighted that Transload, which previously required an operating transfer from the other  
Utilities, is projected to be self-sustaining in FY 26.  
Jim noted the revenue in FY 23 and FY 24 are higher than FY 25 and FY 26 for Sewer  
due, in part, to sewer lines donated to the City show up as revenue, though they are not  
cash. While Sewer typically maintains cash above target, it is decreasing. Jim  
highlighted that the bigger cushion in Utility funds helps reduce the need to bond for  
future projects.  
While Solid Waste has a cash above target, it is slower trending downwards. For  
Proposed FY 26, expenditures are increasing due to recycling carts, additional  
marketing, and trucks. Stormwater is remaining at a fairly healthy cash above target level.  
Jim noted that the FY 26 revenue for Water and Electric includes the proposed rate  
increase. If the increase is not approved, it would change the projection. Sarah Talbert,  
Assistant Utilities Director, noted that without the increase the fund would be below target  
beginning in FY 27.  
Erin and Sarah reviewed the proposed rate changes. This would be a proposed 12%  
revenue increase for Water, or about $3.6 million. This would help with the operation and  
maintenance expenses that have increased. Erin noted that this is not a 12% rate  
increase, as rates would vary. The proposed changes would implement a year round  
tiered system, rather than the summer and non-summer tiered usage. She noted that  
customers that use the same water year round should not see an increase. The  
consultant estimated that around 65% of customers would see their water bills go down  
due to this change. Erin reviewed the proposed base fee adjustments, usage rates, and  
other proposed fee changes. The last time the water fees were adjusted were in 2014.  
The Water & Light Advisory Board recommended approving the increase.  
There is a proposed revenue increase for Electric as Council has expressed interest in  
annual incremental increases rather than a large increase all at once. Staff discussed a  
2% increase for FY 26, which is based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI). This would  
generate around $2.8 million in revenue. Erin noted there had been about an 1.5%  
increase in compensation increases, as well as increased costs for power. This would  
also help maintain cash reserves and debt coverage. The Water & Light Advisory Board  
recommended an increase of the full CPI rate of 2.4%.  
Without a rate increase, the Electric utility would fall below the cash reserve target as  
soon as FY 29. With a 2% increase, the utility wouldn’t fall below cash reserve until FY  
30. Ms. Carroll asked about seeing some sample bills after the new rates go into effect, if  
it is approved. With a 2.4% increase, the utility is forecasted to remain above cash  
reserve target through FY 30. Erin reviewed some projected residential impacts of the rate  
increase for both the 2% and 2.4%. The average monthly impact for residents is  
approximately $2.  
Council discussed the direction to provide staff. Mr. Foster asked about seeing example  
bills so they could review the impact in real dollars. The Mayor asked for a  
communications plan to be brought to Council as well, similar to previous years.  
II. ANY OTHER ITEMS COUNCIL MAY WISH TO DISCUSS  
None.  
III. ADJOURNMENT  
The meeting adjourned at approximately 3:49 p.m.