Budget presented to Shores council

ST. CLAIR SHORES — The St. Clair Shores City Council held its budget hearing on April 27, going through the entire budget for the upcoming 2026-2027 fiscal year. 

The city’s fiscal year ends on June 30 and starts on July 1. In the coming weeks, the council will finalize the budget and any amendments that should arise before then. 

Each year, the council hosts budget hearings in late April to go over department requests. Officials go over each department and each area under their respective umbrellas. This year, the meeting lasted a little under four hours. 

City Manager Dustin Lent thanked Finance Director John Walters and the members of his team for their work, stating it has been the easiest budget yet. The city has a recommended general fund budget of $47,529,908 in revenue and $47,501,532 in expenses. That gives the city a surplus of $28,376. 

“I do want to state though that this does include zero capital projects within the general fund,” Lent said. “That does not mean no capital (expenditures) for the entire city.” 

He said there are capital projects in various different funds such as the library, water funds and others. 

“But for the overall general fund this year, there has been no other capital (projects) earmarked for the general fund,” Lent said. 

The citywide budget includes $132,740,710 in revenue and $139,174,542 in expenses. That is a deficit of $6,433,832. 

“The main deficit in that and main increase in expenses is mostly in your road funds,” Lent said. 

Lent said the major and local road fund gained a fund balance and the council was recommended to spend it down at the end of the last audit. He said there are significant projects within the city that will use some of those funds. 

The water meter projects are also starting up. 

“There is a lot of infrastructure outside of the general fund in our streets, water, sewer, sanitary,” Lent said. 

Councilman John Caron pointed out a significant change that’s missing in the general fund which was the tax increases for the police and fire departments. It will later be added to the budget.

 

Community Development and Inspections
Community Development and Inspections Director Denise Pike and City Planner Liz Koto presented this section. 

Pike said City Engineer Mike Freckelton is moving on to a different opportunity and will leave the city on May 8.

She noted no significant requests for additional funding. She also said they’ve been leading the refresh of the Jefferson Avenue streetscape, updating ordinances and more. 

This year, one goal is disposing of surplus property and continuing updating the permit fees annually. 

“I thank council for their work on permit fee updates, but we are not finished,” Pike said. 

Councilman Dave Rubello asked if it’s more beneficial to have inspections done by Roseville or to have city inspectors in-house. Lent said the speed will be the same whether they have outsourced inspectors or not. 

“We’re not delayed because of them,” Lent said. “The one nice thing that you would have if we have it internal is you have more control.” 

He also said they have a strong relationship with Roseville and having inspectors in-house would add the cost of benefits and other expenses. 

“It is something, I think, that if council wants to look at addressing in the future, it is,” Lent said. 

Rubello asked for a backlog and Pike said they can offer a list of how many reviews are in cue and how long they’re taking. 

 

Police Department
Police Chief Jason Allen and Deputy Chief Matt McCallister presented the Police Department and drug law enforcement fund budget. 

Allen said it’s an exciting year with the city’s 75th anniversary and the Police Department’s 100th anniversary coming up. The police building is on track to be completed in July 2026. 

“We’ve got some special events planned for then and in the fall,” Allen said. 

The department is authorized to have 84 officers and currently has 80 due to retirements and officer career changes. 

“This isn’t because officers are leaving to go to other police agencies,” Allen said. “People are happy here, so we’re grateful for that.” 

Allen said two new officers are being sworn in in May and they’re always looking for the best candidates. He also said they continue to look for grants and take advantage of the fully funded training classes offered by the state. 

He said that though it is an exciting year, the budget is not as exciting. Increases include salary and benefits. There will also be minor changes to other accounts. The department continues to use drug forfeiture funds. In the coming year, it plans to improve the drone program, buy new car radios, replace automatic external defibrillators, replace a retiring K-9 officer named Rocky and purchase new vehicles. 

Caron and Councilwoman Candice Rusie asked that they keep track of the money received by the police and fire millage passed by voters in the last year. 

 

Fire Department
Fire Chief James Piper presented the Fire Department budget. He started off the presentation by stating he has accepted a position as a city manager for a town in Texas. The council and mayor congratulated him on the new position and thanked him for his service. 

Piper said the Fire Department is still doing well. 

Staffing has been consistent. As of the budget meeting, the department was down one position, but another employee is slated to start on May 11. 

“We’ll have that last one filled, and we have some projected retirements coming up that we’re planning for,” Piper said. “But other than that, we currently have full staffing at the department.” 

Piper said their calls for service are up a little bit from the previous year. He also said the percentage of transports to medical facilities has been trending down over the year. 

He stated the biggest change is from the salary and fringe benefits. 

“We tried to make some adjustments in there on the operating budget,” Piper said. “There are some increases but also a few decreases. Most of that on the operating side has been pretty neutral for the most part.” 

A couple of the bigger items are a new ambulance replacement and a new staff vehicle. The newest fire truck has also arrived in the city and Piper is anticipating it will be ready for service in the next couple of weeks after inspections. 

 

Parks and Recreation
Parks and Recreation Director Rob Spinazzola went through the budget with the council. He brought up each individual department supervisor to offer any explanations to the council. 

Spinazzola said they will see an overall decrease in the Civic Ice Arena budget due to the removal of the garden restroom capital item. Next year, the department intends to get a new Zamboni for the Civic Ice Arena. The last time the department bought a Zamboni was in 2021. Spinazzola said three of the four Zambonis are 15 years old with the oldest being from 1999. 

“They’re on a constant rotation over at the motor pool garage,” Spinazzola said. “We try to put as much attention to them as we can. They are getting harder. The two oldest ones are getting harder to work on.” 

Council suggested using the oldest Zamboni for the St. Clair Shores Memorial Day Parade. 

Councilman Chris Vitale asked if they could put advertising on the side of the Zambonis and Spinazzola said he is looking into that as well as board advertisements. However, the board advertisements are a bit more finicky as hockey players rub against the boards. 

Spinazzola said they also have plans to host a mother-son dance similar to the daddy-daughter dance in February. It is called Ladies and Little Gents, and the plan is to host it in October. Rusie said she’s glad they’re going to try it again.

The department also wants to bring back the overnight camp out at Veterans Memorial Park.

 

40th District Court
Andrea Strassburg, 40th District Court administrator, said the court presented a fiscally responsible budget. They have expenditures focused on the building itself to repair the aging structure. 

She also said security remains of high importance and they plan to submit a few grant requests during the next fiscal year. It includes updates in technology, metal detectors, generators and more. 

Many departments reported a regular increase in wages for employees including changes to the minimum wage.