City of Columbia, Missouri

Meeting Minutes - Final

City Council

City Hall

Monday, July 14, 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:

General Fund Overview

Attachments: FY26 Budget Work Session Presentation

Matthew Lue, Finance Director, presented on the General Fund budget. He began with

information on the differing budgeting philosophies between the state and federal

governments compared to municipal governments. He clarified that unspent funds go

back to that fund’s fund balance at the end of the fiscal year. He covered what the

General Fund is and what all is included. As a service based organization, the largest

expense in the General Fund is personnel, with Public Safety being the largest piece of

that.

The General Fund outlook included actuals from FY 23 and FY 24, and projected FY 25

and FY 26 - this included revenues, expenditures, and cash reserve target. Matthew

noted that there are limited vacancies in the General Fund now compared to FY 23, and

that the changes in staffing since the class and comp study occurred faster than staff

anticipated. Matthew noted that the budget overall has decreased significantly outside of

personnel.

The main source of revenue for the General Fund is sales and use tax, making up about

30% of General Fund revenue. He also highlighted intragovernmental revenue comes from

other departments into the general fund - for example, the Law department is in the

general fund and provides those services to all city departments.

Deep Debnath, Economist, discussed the actuals from FY 20 through estimated FY 26

for the General Fund. He also covered historical data on property taxes. Beginning in FY

26, a proposal to halt the transfer from the General Fund to the Public Improvement Fund

(PIF) is included in the draft budget - the transfer includes 2% of the 1% General Fund

sales tax. Whether or not this transfer takes place will be evaluated on a year by year

basis. More information on the Public Improvement Fund will be shared on Saturday.

For the current fiscal year, use tax is coming in higher than anticipated, which is helping

to offset lower than expected sales tax revenue. Deep also noted that marijuana tax

revenue is also lower than anticipated, so for FY 26 just over $600,000 is anticipated. He

highlighted the other local taxes, specifically which ones are declining (cigarette,

telecommunications, cable tv taxes). He highlighted the Union and Boone Electric gross

receipts operate like a P.I.L.O.T fee and anticipate those to rebound.

Andrea Greer, Budget Officer, covered the categories with the largest expenditures in the

General Fund, including personnel and services & miscellaneous. Police, Fire, Public

Works, and Public Health are the departments with the largest budget allocations.

Meganne Montesinos, Budget Analyst, reviewed the General & Administrative (G&A)

fees. These fees are charged to departments outside the General Fund to cover the

services provided by General Fund departments. There are also some direct billed items

charged through G&A fees, such as Airport Safety. She covered the divisions that are

covered through a G&A fee billed to departments outside of the General Fund.

Andrea covered Public Communications Fees, which are calculated to cover costs for

Creative Services & Marketing and the Contact Center. An example of a direct bill is the

costs for the City Source newsletter which is created by Creative Services and then billed

to the Utilities. The Contact Center fee is based on call referral history. She also covered

the Facilities Fees, which are calculated based on square footage. These fees support

maintenance and custodial services.

Meganne emphasized that G&A fees don’t go to a specific department, while the Public

Communications and Facilities Fees are budgeted as revenue in specific departments.

Jim McDonald, Assistant Finance Director, discussed the budget for a variety of General

Fund departments and divisions. He reviewed the role of the Streets & Engineering and

Public Health departments and how each is funded. Rebecca Roesslet, Public Health

Director, discussed some of the impacts of funding cuts to Public Health. The

Community Health Worker program and vaccines in public schools are both ending.

Matthew covered changes in the FY 26 proposed budget for the General Fund. These

include not transferring to the PIF, a change for Parks (4) and Airport (2) safety officers

becoming sworn police officers, and 8 new FTEs in Public Health (2), Housing &

Neighborhood Services (1), and CPD (6).

The first read for the budget will be August 2nd.

II. ANY OTHER ITEMS COUNCIL MAY WISH TO DISCUSS

None.

III. ADJOURNMENT

The meeting adjourned at approximately 3:42 p.m.