The city of Jersey Village is estimated to end fiscal year 2025-26 with a $12.09 million fund balance, City Manager Austin Bleess said at the May 18 special meeting.
Latest update
The estimated available fund balance going into FY 2026-27 is $8.05 million, putting the city in a strong position to work on projects such as the City Campus project, Bleess said.
The city will reallocate $1.4 million from the general fund to the Capital Improvement Program for Phase 1 of the City Campus project. Bleess said Phase 1 will focus on improving the administration buildings, public works and lobby.
The breakdown
The following factors played a role in shaping the FY 2026-27 budget, according to the budget memo:
- Sales tax revenue, projected to increase
- Increase in health insurance premiums
- Workers' compensation and auto insurance, projected to increase by 10%
- Property and liability insurance, projected to increase by 2%
- A 10% increase anticipated as the city’s software contract enters its first renewal year
Bleess said oil prices and inflation increases are being taken into consideration for the upcoming fiscal year.
Assessing the need
Assistant City Manager Robert Basford said the 2025 summer camp was net positive and saw 95% of its spots filled, and that this year’s registration numbers are seeing similar trends. Even with the city’s pool projected to open in 2027, council members unanimously agreed that the program should continue, and that it could even complement the pool.
City Council members unanimously decided that the best financial option was to conduct the compensation analysis in-house rather than through an outside consultant. Bleess said the city has conducted this analysis every two years since 2018 and did not use an outside consultant previously.
Council decided against automatically applying a yearly cost-of-living adjustment in favor of reviewing any potential raises on a yearly basis.
Looking forward
The proposed budget book is anticipated to get to City Council by July 2, followed by a meeting to discuss the budget slated for July 17, according to the budget memo.
