The State of the 2027 Budget

Tomorrow's meeting of the Board of Estimate and Apportionment will begin at 2:00 p.m. instead of 2:30 p.m. to allow more time to try to bring expenditures in line with revenues. At last report, projected expenditures for 2027 exceeded anticipated revenues by significantly more than $1.5 million. At Wednesday's BEA meeting, Council president Margaret Morris expressed her desire to avoid closing the gap by raising property taxes and made this critique of the BEA process, "We try to figure out how to cover our expenses instead of asking are we spending wisely."

Morris's statements at the BEA meeting echoed what she had told the Common Council at its meeting the previous night. In her update to the Council on the status of the budget process, Morris said she would prefer not to see property taxes increasing, because tax increases contribute to displacement for both renters and home owners and also impact businesses in the city. She said, if an increase is necessary, it should not exceed last year's tax increase but asserted that, before any tax increase is considered, departments should identify any areas where reductions can be made.

At the Council meeting, Morris also outlined the Council's process of reviewing and approving the budget. The budget will be presented to the Council on Monday, November 9. The Council then has twenty days to act on the budget. It can only reduce items in the budget. A special meeting of the Council will be convened after the presentation to consider any modifications to the budget. Morris directed councilmembers to review Section C16-3 through C16-5 of the city charter, which lays out the process for the Council's consideration of the budget. She concluded by saying, "All of that process got lost last year."

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