Capital city leaders to finalize 2025 operating budget

TOPEKA ( KSNT ) – Topeka city council is holding its last meeting before they soon finalize the city’s 2025 operating budget.

Leaders in the capital city have been tinkering with the budget for weeks to address an initial budget shortfall of $15 million. The city’s current plan to cover the deficit is to deplete their reserves.

In a letter to the council , city manager Robert Perez said the city has $13.8 million in its Unassigned Reserve Fund. $2 million of that is already encumbered, meaning the city can only dip into $11.8 million. The remaining deficit will be addressed by adjusting spending on various projects.

Topeka city councilman district 6 Marcus Miller told 27 News city leaders hear taxpayers concerns over rising costs and asks that folks consider that inflation and rising labor costs impact the city like they impact businesses and individuals.

He said city responsibilities, like utilities and public safety, require good workers to run effectively.

“Those good people can go to a job that pays $80,000 more with a lot less stress, but they do this job because they want to do the job,” Miller said. “Nobody becomes a city worker to get rich. You become a city worker because you want to do the right thing. So we have to pay for that, there’s no other way around that.”

Pulling money from savings could help the city next year, but hurt the city in the long-run. Perez writes in the letter that the move will set the city up for success in 2025, but that it will require policy changes for 2026 and 2027.

A public hearing on the budget will take place Sept. 10. At that meeting the mill levy rate, which directly impacts your taxes, will be set at that meeting. The vote for the final budget adoption has been pushed back to Tuesday, Sept. 17.

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