Expenditures
• The proposed General Fund budget of $69.9M is $2.5M higher than the FY 2025 Revised Budget.
Health insurance and other employee benefits are budgeted in the General Government &
Allocations division, along with General Fund transfers to other funds and a contingency of $824K.
Excluding that division, the proposed budget for General Fund departments total $87K less than the
FY 2025 Revised Budget, a decrease of 0.2%. General Government services have increased by $2.5M
(12%).
• In the Hotel/Motel Fund, proposed expenditures of $2.55M represent a 4.6% increase over the FY25
revised budget. The increase is mostly attributed to higher required payments related to Hotel/Motel
Tax collection.
• Expenditures in the Water/Sewer Fund are projected to increase $83K (0.4%) compared to the FY 2025
Revised Budget. This is due primarily to increases for the wholesale purchase of water. The wholesale
purchase of water is the largest line item at $12.79M (56% of fund total).
Personnel
• A new HR & Risk Management Specialist is recommended in the Human Resources Department. This
position will be vital in the City’s efforts to reduce and manage risk relating to insurance. Current
staffing levels are insufficient to adequately address these issues. The position will be responsible for
the management and coordination of risk evaluation, claims administration, contract review
pertaining to insurance requirements, and limitation of liability to the City, among other duties.
• In the Parks Facilities Division, a new position for Parks Maintenance Tech I is recommended. This
position will work out of the Smyrna Community Center and will focus on daily general maintenance
of the event areas and amenities surrounding the center. These areas have become increasingly
popular and need more daily maintenance to stay up to the City’s high standard of cleanliness.
• In all, department heads requested seven new full-time positions and one new part-time position, of
which two full-time positions are recommended. The total budgeted impact of the new positions for
FY 2026 is about $146K.
• 15 reclassifications of existing positions were requested, 10 of which are recommended.
Reclassifications are justified for various reasons, including increased job duties, restructuring of
departments, creating a progression path, and redirecting department efforts to increase efficiency.
The total budget impact for reclassifications is $3,971.
• Merit raises totaling $395K are set aside in General, Hotel/Motel, E-911, and Water/Sewer funds
contingencies. Annual merit raises have historically ranged from 0% to 3.5% based on each
employee’s annual performance review. Funds for cost-of-living adjustments (COLA) totaling $458K
are also included in this year’s budget. FY 2023 was the first year of COLA raises, allowing the City to
keep salaries equal to inflation. Beginning last year, the COLA has been capped at 3% with the
possibility to be lower, depending on inflation. Adoption of this budget does not guarantee these
measures will be implemented. Subsequent action by Mayor & Council is required to make them
effective.
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