BALDWIN — The City of Baldwin adopted its FY 2027 budget Tuesday night on a 4–1 vote, approving a spending plan that remained unchanged from its previous public hearing and drew no public comment during the final hearing.
The council took no additional action or amendments before the vote, and no presentation was made during the meeting prior to adoption.
Councilman Joe Elam cast the lone dissenting vote.
Budget passes without changes
Finance Director Angela Adams did not present new figures Tuesday night, and officials confirmed there were no changes to the budget since the last hearing. It projects $8.79 million in revenue and $8.74 million in expenditures, leaving a projected surplus of about $43,800.
The budget includes a reallocation of staffing positions across departments, including the restoration of an administrative assistant position in general administration and the elimination of a front-desk position in the Public Utilities Department. It also includes a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for all city employees.
The adopted budget comes after weeks of financial review that city leaders have described as an effort to improve clarity in prior-year accounting and align projected revenues with expenditures.
Following the vote, Mayor Doug Faust credited staff for their work on the financial plan.
“I would echo the comments that were made earlier to the staff about working on the budget,” Faust said. “It’s been an eye-opening process, but it’s also been really comforting to start getting towards much more accurate information. Y’all have worked really hard, got us to a balanced budget, and we thank you very much for that.”
Elam votes no, cites unanswered questions
Elam said after the meeting that he had additional questions he hoped to ask before the vote was taken, but the council proceeded with a motion and second before he was able to raise them.
“I had a few more questions. I was hoping to get complete answers on, we actually took the vote,” Elam said. “The procedure just moved a little bit quicker than I was ready for.”
Elam said he could not say whether the additional information would have changed his vote, but indicated it may have.
“It may have changed my vote had I gotten those answers,” he said.
Despite his dissent, Elam said the city is in a stronger financial position than in recent years and credited improved financial transparency and staff work for the progress.
“I’m going to say the same thing that many folks have said in this room right now,” Elam said. “The fact that we have a confident and intelligent person helping us learn the truth and the facts. I am more comfortable with the position that Baldwin is in now than I have been in quite some time.”
Faust says balanced budget expected in first year
After the meeting, Faust said he anticipated achieving a balanced budget during his first year in office, though he acknowledged the process required closer alignment of revenues and expenditures.
“Absolutely, thought we’d get it done,” Faust said. “It’s been really pleasant that we’ve been able to figure out the revenues, and balance them out against the expenditures, and get our expenditures down to a point where we did get a balanced budget.”
Budget reflects broader financial restructuring effort
The FY 2027 budget reflects ongoing efforts by city officials to refine accounting practices, better identify revenue sources and align spending with available funds.
City leaders have said those efforts include improved tracking of restricted funds and clearer separation of designated revenue accounts.
The budget’s passage sets the financial framework for the city heading into the new fiscal year, which must begin by July 1.
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