Erie staff proposes $225.7 million 2027 budget, cuts $3.5 million from operating requests

Erie staff is proposing a $225.7 million budget for 2027, including about $3.5 million in cuts to General Fund operating requests. Town Council held the first hearing on the proposal Oct. 27 without adopting it; the budget includes $150,000 for a temporary multi-use path and crossing improvements on 119th Street, the Finance Director told the council. The meeting packet schedules a second reading and anticipated adoption for Nov. 10.

Staff described the temporary path as connecting Compass with Rex Ranch and nearby areas to give children a route to bike. The Public Works director estimated about $80,000 of the allocation would pay for concrete barriers; he described the remaining work as an asphalt path, millings and crossing improvements.

During budget development, staff reduced General Fund operating requests by about $3.5 million, or 8%, and Capital Improvement Fund requests by 21%, the proposed budget book says. Those are reductions to requests, not uniform cuts to every department’s final operating budget. The proposal funds two police officers, budgeted at a combined $279,000 in salaries and benefits, and a wastewater manager, budgeted at $193,000. It also eliminates two vacant Planning and Community Development positions and shifts work from a vacant information technology position to a consulting contract. Staff described the staffing changes as a net increase of 0.5 full-time equivalent and said the hires would address rising service demands and provide dedicated wastewater oversight, in its budget presentation.

Updated budget materials list $225.7 million in proposed revenues and $225.7 million in expenditures across all funds, with a projected $8.6 million net decrease in fund balances, the Oct. 27 presentation shows. The revenue total includes debt proceeds and transfers between funds. Excluding those sources, proposed 2027 revenue is $118,953,574, down about 4.1% from $124,069,241 in the adopted 2026 budget, the budget book’s revenue table shows. That comparison still includes sources such as taxes, fees and capital contributions; it is not a measure of operating revenue. Earlier budget materials assumed average General Fund revenue growth of 1.75%.

The budget book lists a proposed $4,938,462 allocation in 2027 for Northern Integrated Supply Project (NISP) property acquisition, funded by the Water Fund. That is the budget line for the $4.9 million earmark, not a second allocation; the project’s 2026–31 forecast totals $43.37 million. The book separately lists $662,500 for 2027 under NISP Conveyance Easement Acquisitions. Staff expects Council to consider a possible interim agreement in early 2027. If the town’s direction on NISP changes, Council could de-appropriate the funds or leave them unspent, the budget memo says.

The updated proposal moves the $30.75 million Erie Community Center expansion from the Public Facilities Impact Fund to the Capital Improvement Fund. The project would be removed from the budget if voters do not approve the related sales-tax measure, the updated presentation says. The latest five-year forecast projects the Capital Improvement Fund reaching a negative $4.95 million balance in 2031; staff says future capital projects can be adjusted to address funding needs. An earlier capital plan listed a 2027 allocation for the center’s design and tied construction to a funding mechanism and Council direction, the capital plan says.