Fiscal Responsibility

Focused on Disciplined Budgets and Spending within our Means

Growth must be balanced with thoughtful planning. I have and will continue to focus on affordability, looking for opportunities to grow our tax base by supporting our local businesses and expanding commercial opportunities and ensuring that the City does not spend beyond our means.

I am satisfied that during my tenure municipal tax increases were kept very close to flat in real dollars (tax increases were roughly 1% above inflation cumulatively over the past three years).  But, we can do better. My intent for FY27 is for municipal tax increases to track inflation — for your municipal taxes to be flat in real dollars.

Even with the relatively modest increases to municipal taxes, the City’s finances are in excellent shape:

• For FY25, the City projects a surplus of $1,282,683.  Together with accumulated surplus from prior years, the City had a cumulative surplus balance as of the end of FY25 of $5,666,699.
• The Pennies for Path fund ended FY25 with a balance of $884,841.
• The Open Space Fund ended FY24 with a balance of $586,931.
• The Energy Project Reserve Fund had a balance of $476,866 as of 6/30/2025. 
• The City still has “ARPA dollars” to spend totaling $1,882,999, as of Oct 1, 2025.

During my tenure, the City successfully launched a cloud-based permitting system that allows for online permit submittals for all City permits in one place. This system should greatly improve efficiency around permitting, both improving the user experience and saving money. The City also successfully launched a new finance system that moves us from a complete paper-based and manual system to a cloud-based system that allows for data analysis and online processing.