Council hears about 2027 budget plan

BROOKINGS — City Manager Paul Briseno gave the City Council and public a first look at the proposed Brookings budget for 2027 during a presentation at the Sept. 8 council meeting.

Briseno described the budget as a balanced attempt at maintenance of core services, with a total increase of 6.2 percent — or approximately $4.5 million — more than the 2026 budget, with a total price tag of just over $77 million.

Briseno called the increase “bare bones” when looked at in totality.

“That $4.5 million increase, the majority of that is projects, very large projects,” he said. “If you dive really deeper into this budget, you’ll see it’s really a maintenance budget. If you subtract out the wage increases that we’re proposing for next year, the actual increase in this budget, for the general fund is about is about 1.4 percent.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, inflation over the last 12 month rolling period ending in August stood at 3.4 percent, with core CPI — which excludes volatile food and energy prices — was at 2.4 year over year, meaning the budget does come in well under inflation.

Later in the meeting, the council also passed its property tax levy to the Brookings County Finance Officer. The City is requesting an increase of 2.5 percent for CPI and .827 percent to match growth, for a total of a 3.327 increase — roughly $147,000 and a shade under inflation.

Briseno also noted in his presentation that Brookings property tax rates remain in the lower third of comparable cities in the state.

“The state has added additional policies on cities that mitigate the growth in revenue streams, to mitigate the impact of property taxes. At the end of the day, that means less revenue sources for our employees and processes,” Briseno said. “As we look at how we compare to other municipalities, and we wear this as a badge of honor, we’re probably the third lowest property tax mill rate across the state of peers our size.”

Briseno showed a graph with Brookings at a 2.202 mill rate, only ahead of Spearfish at 1.934 percent and Watertown at 1.715. In comparison, Huron was at 7.28, Aberdeen at 5.374 and Vermillion at 4.461.

The City gets about 19 percent of its general fund budget from property taxes. Other revenue sources, according to Briseno’s presentation, are sales tax at 46 percent, as well as the Bed, Booze and Board tax and the Business Improvement District.
The City gets about 17 percent of total property taxes, with 31 percent going directly to the county and 52 percent going to public schools.
Briseno stressed that the city plans to fund school resource officers, but also wanted to negotiate a more-even split with the school on funding them before its next round of budgeting.

The large bulk of the increase in the budget will be spent on increased salaries, particularly for police, according to Briseno’s presentation.

“And then finally, the police department. We are seeing a roughly $271,000 personnel increase in this, and once again, that’s because of the pay study. Now, with this, we also have the SRO discussion that’s currently happening, and I do have programming in there, revenue streams coming from the school in order to help offset those costs. At the highest level, what we’re looking at doing is asking the school to have a more balanced partnership in this relationship,” Briseno said.

The rest of the additional funds will go to the city’s attorney bills — Briseno said they have used the new attorney, Woods Fuller out of Sioux Falls, more than in the past and budgeted an increase of $60,000 — and increased operational costs.

The City also expects to lose money during the changeover at the Dacotah Bank Center, but hopes to be able to free up those funds after 2027, Briseno said.

Briseno also stressed that the city has some one-time hits in this budget, including some funds for the new police station as well as a nearly 118 percent increase in funding for storm drainage that is a project to finally fix the road at 20th and Medary.

Briseno also stressed that the city’s liquor monopoly is, largely, subsidizing the golf course and the airport.

“The liquor store does transfer some money to the general fund, as does the solid waste. But as we dissect the golf course,” Briseno said. “Roughly 21 percent of the golf course is subsidized, and roughly 69% of the airport is subsidized. But that’s just the percentage. I really encourage you to look at the dollars from a CIP perspective. That subsidy means $312,000 to the general fund. Or to the golf course. Once again, it’s not sustainable. It’s not self-sustainable, and therefore, as a quality of life amenity, we do have to fund it with some capital improvement funds.”

The next year also marks final payments from the city on two large projects — more than $900,000 due to the SDSU Performing Arts Center and $75,000 to Brookings Health System — that will free up more than a million dollars in 2028.

After a question from Deputy Mayor Nick Wendell, Briseno said the city was doing a wage study every three years and still feeling the tail end of inflationary effects regarding payroll overall, but also said doing the study regularly would ideally smooth those increases out over time.

The Council heard proposed budgets from outside agencies at a Sept 15 study session. On Sept. 22, Briseno will tell the Council about the 10-year capital improvement plan. The Council also plans open discussion, if necessary, on Oct. 13. The finished budget will gets is first hearing at the Oct. 27 meeting with eventual adoption scheduled for Nov. 10.
In other business, the Council:

— Heard Mayoral Proclomations regarding suicide prevention and welcoming new residents

— Formally concluded the Linchpin project that sought to build a boutique downtown, paying the group more than $300,000 for work they did on the Old Armory the city deemed it would have to have done itself.

— Approved a new ordinance allowing the Brookings Police Department to dispose of lost property after 90 days.

The next Council meeting is Sept. 22 at 6 p.m.

Linehan is the Beacon’s managing editor and welcomes story tips and comments at BrookingsBeacon@gmail.com