FY25 Proposed Budget

from enhancing public transparency to investigative support and participation in community partnerships such as non-profit capacity building efforts and the Johnson County community violence intervention program. The budget also provides training and support to move our mental health liaison partnership with CommUnity to a co-responder model with the goal of continuing to increase the contacts our mental health liaisons have with the community. $40,000 is budgeted to expand the license plate reader technology that the University of Iowa has invested in around its main campus and outlying facilities. As the Iowa City Police Department has decreased the number of traffic stops that we perform, this technology can help ensure we can effectively and efficiently keep the community safe, bring victims of crimes justice swiftly, and locate any missing or endangered persons moving through our community. The health and well-being of the older population is supported through investments in the Senior Center building and programming. The Fiscal Year 2025 budget provides for the ability to offer expanded evening and weekend hours at the Senior Center. The Capital Improvement Program also contains funding to complete two exterior renovation projects that will commence in 2024 and begin to plan for and construct interior improvements to the historic building in 2025-2027. Staffing & People: The macroeconomic headwinds and continued State mandated property tax reform significantly limits the City’s ability to add personnel with the Fiscal 2025 budget. Only two new positions are introduced in the budget, including a previously approved and hired Senior Facilities Design and Construction Manager position in Public Works. This position will support major public facility projects in the Capital Improvement Program, most notably the new transit and equipment buildings that are now fully funded. The second position is the previously mentioned Civilian Data Analyst in the Police Department. Both positions relate directly to the City’s Strategic Plan with the data analyst position being specifically requested by the City Council in the August 2023 preparatory work session for the Fiscal Year 2025 budget. Many other operations are in need of additional resources to support our growing community. The City must keep core staffing and resource needs in sight as those investments will be needed when budgetary resources allow. Facilities, Equipment, and Technology: Funding is provided in several operations to support continued data collection and management for the ongoing buildout of our asset management system. This investment is helping the City build a value-informed data-driven foundation for our organization as outlined in the Strategic Plan. Supplementing this is newly budgeted funds in the City Manager’s Office to complete a comprehensive statistically valid community survey that will help staff and elected officials better understand needs and desires of those we serve. The Capital Improvement Program outlines a very aggressive investment in public facilities that will support current and future generations. New, expanded or renovated facilities that are funded in the plan include the Senior Center, transit building, equipment building, landfill equipment building, wastewater digester complex, City Park pool and more. Many of these projects are supported by the Facility Reserve Fund, which has been building up financial capacity over the last several years. However, no Fiscal Year 2025 transfer is planned for the Facility Reserve Strategic Resources:

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