FINDLAY | Findlay Council Seeks Bigger Role in City Budget, Will Review the Numbers Monday

Author: FFP Ai Bot

Downtown Findlay. Photo: Pepsi2786, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Findlay_Downtown_Historic_District.jpg).

FINDLAY- Findlay City Council members want a more hands-on role in building the city’s budget, and they will take a closer look at the numbers Monday.

Council’s Committee of the Whole meets at 5 p.m. Monday, Oct. 26, at the Findlay Municipal Building, 318 Dorney Plaza, The Courier reported. The meeting is open to the public and will be livestreamed on the city’s YouTube channel, Findlay Ohio. A Committee of the Whole brings all council members together for discussion, and no votes can be taken. Meeting notices are posted on the City of Findlay website.

Why council wants changes

Findlay has a history of adopting deficit budgets, then asking departments to underspend so the year ends even or better. At an Oct. 6 Finance Committee meeting, members and administration officials discussed moving to a budget that more closely matches expected revenue and actual spending.

Councilman Rodney Phillips, R-6, said the roughly $3 million departments typically give back each year shows the city appropriates more than it spends. He suggested building budgets closer to expected costs and sending extra funding requests through the Finance Committee during the year.

“I don’t know that we would find it an inconvenience to have to hold a meeting to release funds for XYZ reason and it would give us a little bit better track of how much it actually costs around the city,” Phillips said.

The numbers

• 2026 budget as adopted in January: $36.2 million in general fund revenue against $42.1 million in spending, a $5.9 million gap.
• Projected deficit as of September: about $6.8 million, even after a roughly $2 million corporate income tax windfall, according to Councilman Dan DeLong, R-7.
• 2027: a $5.5 million deficit was also forecast.

Mayor Christina Muryn said the report assumes departments spend every dollar they are given and does not count the year-end givebacks that have historically shrunk or erased the gap. She expects the general fund to finish the year at about break-even or better.

City Auditor Jim Staschiak cautioned council to separate projections from the official report, which currently shows a budgeted deficit of about $6.8 million, and said officials should rely on those published figures.

The 2026 budget passed 8-2 in January, with Phillips and DeLong voting no. Council had to act quickly because the city cannot legally pay staff or vendors in a new year without an adopted budget.

“I think we have heard it loud and clear that we all want to see that break-even budget so that we show to the community that we’re being wise fiscal stewards,” Muryn said at the October Finance Committee meeting.

The budget talks come as Muryn is also pressing townships and Hancock County on annexation and revenue sharing, which The Fostoria Free Press reported earlier this week.

Sources

The Courier: Findlay Council seeks tighter grip on budget (Oct. 2026) – https://thecourier.com/news/1560031/findlay-council-seeks-tighter-grip-on-budget/
City of Findlay – https://www.findlayohio.gov/
The Fostoria Free Press: Mayor Muryn renews call for annexation, revenue-sharing talks (post 162154) – https://thefostoriafreepress.com/findlay-mayor-muryn-annexation-revenue-sharing-talks-townships-county/
Featured photo: Findlay Downtown Historic District, Pepsi2786, public domain, Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Findlay_Downtown_Historic_District.jpg