Fiscal Year 2025 Budget

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At their Sept. 16 meeting, the Columbia City Council approved the City’s budget for fiscal year 2025. The approved budget will soon be available here and on our website. In the meantime, we invite you to peruse the Budget Presentation that was shared and discussed prior to the City Council’s vote on Sept. 16. This can be found on this page under “Materials”.

The FY25 budget outlines priorities and all planned activities for the upcoming fiscal year that runs Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025. The City’s priorities for FY25 include infrastructure, public safety, housing and social services.

We know our budget is complex, and it can be confusing. Our hope is to clarify this process so everyone can better understand how fiscal decisions are being made and why your feedback is so important.

We’ve also provided a Powerpoint tutorial that explains and illustrates the different parts of the budget process, using data from the current (FY2024) budget, answers to several Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a Glossary of Terms. We encourage you to continue to share your comments and questions below, through the end of September.


At their Sept. 16 meeting, the Columbia City Council approved the City’s budget for fiscal year 2025. The approved budget will soon be available here and on our website. In the meantime, we invite you to peruse the Budget Presentation that was shared and discussed prior to the City Council’s vote on Sept. 16. This can be found on this page under “Materials”.

The FY25 budget outlines priorities and all planned activities for the upcoming fiscal year that runs Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025. The City’s priorities for FY25 include infrastructure, public safety, housing and social services.

We know our budget is complex, and it can be confusing. Our hope is to clarify this process so everyone can better understand how fiscal decisions are being made and why your feedback is so important.

We’ve also provided a Powerpoint tutorial that explains and illustrates the different parts of the budget process, using data from the current (FY2024) budget, answers to several Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and a Glossary of Terms. We encourage you to continue to share your comments and questions below, through the end of September.


Questions

Please let us know what questions you have about the 2025 Budget and/or the budget process in general.  

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  • Share With a projected $12M in investment revenue, the portfolio must be very large to reach that amount of return on investment, ballparking between $150M and $200M. Where can residents view all the investments the City of Columbia has in their portfolio? on Facebook Share With a projected $12M in investment revenue, the portfolio must be very large to reach that amount of return on investment, ballparking between $150M and $200M. Where can residents view all the investments the City of Columbia has in their portfolio? on Twitter Share With a projected $12M in investment revenue, the portfolio must be very large to reach that amount of return on investment, ballparking between $150M and $200M. Where can residents view all the investments the City of Columbia has in their portfolio? on Linkedin Email With a projected $12M in investment revenue, the portfolio must be very large to reach that amount of return on investment, ballparking between $150M and $200M. Where can residents view all the investments the City of Columbia has in their portfolio? link

    With a projected $12M in investment revenue, the portfolio must be very large to reach that amount of return on investment, ballparking between $150M and $200M. Where can residents view all the investments the City of Columbia has in their portfolio?

    Lazrex asked 4 months ago

    The list of investments held by the City are presented in the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) in the Schedule of Marketable Securities and Investments page 199. This report is available on the Finance Department page of the City website: 

    https://www.como.gov/finance/accounting/financial-reports/

    https://www.como.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/fy-2023-annual-comprehensive-financial-report.pdf.pdf

  • Share On Page 24 there is a table labeled "Assessed Values of Taxable Property", years 2014-2021 all follow the formula of (State Assessed Value + Real Property + Personal Property) = Total Assessed Value. Years 2022 and 2023 do not follow that pattern, 2022 has a difference of $2,000,000 and 2023 has a difference of $186,036,761. Why do 2022 & 2023 not follow this same formula? on Facebook Share On Page 24 there is a table labeled "Assessed Values of Taxable Property", years 2014-2021 all follow the formula of (State Assessed Value + Real Property + Personal Property) = Total Assessed Value. Years 2022 and 2023 do not follow that pattern, 2022 has a difference of $2,000,000 and 2023 has a difference of $186,036,761. Why do 2022 & 2023 not follow this same formula? on Twitter Share On Page 24 there is a table labeled "Assessed Values of Taxable Property", years 2014-2021 all follow the formula of (State Assessed Value + Real Property + Personal Property) = Total Assessed Value. Years 2022 and 2023 do not follow that pattern, 2022 has a difference of $2,000,000 and 2023 has a difference of $186,036,761. Why do 2022 & 2023 not follow this same formula? on Linkedin Email On Page 24 there is a table labeled "Assessed Values of Taxable Property", years 2014-2021 all follow the formula of (State Assessed Value + Real Property + Personal Property) = Total Assessed Value. Years 2022 and 2023 do not follow that pattern, 2022 has a difference of $2,000,000 and 2023 has a difference of $186,036,761. Why do 2022 & 2023 not follow this same formula? link

    On Page 24 there is a table labeled "Assessed Values of Taxable Property", years 2014-2021 all follow the formula of (State Assessed Value + Real Property + Personal Property) = Total Assessed Value. Years 2022 and 2023 do not follow that pattern, 2022 has a difference of $2,000,000 and 2023 has a difference of $186,036,761. Why do 2022 & 2023 not follow this same formula?

    Lazrex asked 4 months ago

    Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is an error staff will be updating this in the budget document before it is approved by Council.

  • Share What is the total annual dollar amount of the wage increase for all water department employees for FY25? on Facebook Share What is the total annual dollar amount of the wage increase for all water department employees for FY25? on Twitter Share What is the total annual dollar amount of the wage increase for all water department employees for FY25? on Linkedin Email What is the total annual dollar amount of the wage increase for all water department employees for FY25? link

    What is the total annual dollar amount of the wage increase for all water department employees for FY25?

    John T. Conway, PE asked 5 months ago

    We anticipated personnel to be $7,894,286 in FY24, with a total budget of $8,957,095. The proposed FY25 budget is $8,352,836. That is an increase of $458,550.00 from the FY24 anticipated budget, but a decrease of $604,259.00 when comparing the total FY24 budget versus the proposed FY25 budget.

    This reflects our change in pay philosophy for the new fiscal year. In FY24 we budgeted every employee that was not at the midpoint of their salary range, as well as every vacant position, at the midpoint of their salary range. This was to ensure that, as we implemented the new pay plan, we would have the flexibility to move people to higher pay scales if needed. For FY25 we are budgeting all current employees at their current rate of pay plus 4%, and we are budgeting vacant positions at 25% of their salary range. This is because we have implemented our new pay scale, and do not anticipate any large scale movement in the current future.

  • Share How can the city manager justify a water rate increase and how will the revenue be used? Please be specific. on Facebook Share How can the city manager justify a water rate increase and how will the revenue be used? Please be specific. on Twitter Share How can the city manager justify a water rate increase and how will the revenue be used? Please be specific. on Linkedin Email How can the city manager justify a water rate increase and how will the revenue be used? Please be specific. link

    How can the city manager justify a water rate increase and how will the revenue be used? Please be specific.

    billscomoaccount asked 5 months ago

    The City's rating agency for bonded debt, Standard and Poor's (S&P), requires that the city has a debt service ratio of 1.10. If the City falls below this ratio, we will be subject to a rating downgrade. A downgrade in the City's rating would have many negative effects including increased interest rates paid on bonded debt. Since 2020, the Water utility has seen expenses for the treatment of water, along with personnel, increase significantly, which has a negative effect on our debt ratio. The additional revenue will be used to cover those increasing expenses, fund water projects, and aid in the maintenance of aging infrastructure.  We are only increasing rates to the extent needed to cover these expenses.

  • Share How much money is in the general fund? on Facebook Share How much money is in the general fund? on Twitter Share How much money is in the general fund? on Linkedin Email How much money is in the general fund? link

    How much money is in the general fund?

    khuddlestonsmith asked 6 months ago

    Thank you for your question!  The general fund budget is around $133 million for FY25, an increase of $2 million from the current fiscal year (1.5% increase) 

Page last updated: 19 Sep 2024, 10:50 AM