The Winslow City Council approved a tentative fiscal year 2027 budget of approximately $45.34 million Tuesday night, a figure significantly larger than what council members had seen in prior work sessions due to the addition of several grant-funded items.
City Manager David Coolidge explained that the budget had grown since an earlier presentation primarily because a $15 million Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant. “There were a couple of things that you’ll see that the amount has grown. However, it doesn’t affect the bottom line,” Coolidge said, noting that the city had neglected to include the RAISE grant in the earlier draft.
In addition to the RAISE grant, the budget incorporates a $500,000 economic development grant, a $3.5 million water tank grant and approximately $5 million in airport improvement grants. Coolidge said those items are classified as excluded funds, meaning they do not count against the city’s expenditure limitation in the same way as general expenditures. The city’s estimated total exclusions came to about $24.56 million, bringing the amount counted against the expenditure limit down to roughly $20.77 million, below the city’s cap of approximately $21.43 million. Total resources available were listed at about $56.6 million.
“The likelihood of expending all of those grants in the next year is slim to none. However, we still account for them just in case,” he said. “Whatever we don’t expend, we will carry over into the following year,” Coolidge told council.
He also reminded the council that Tuesday’s action sets a ceiling, not a final number. “What we are setting tonight with the tentative is that we’re setting our max. So when we come back for the final, we cannot increase, but we can decrease,” Coolidge said. The council approved the tentative budget and expenditure limitation for FY 2027 with no stated opposition.
Auditor Michael Larson from the state auditor’s office presented the results of the city’s audit for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2025, reporting that Winslow received an unmodified opinion on its financial statements, the highest rating auditors can issue.
“The city received what’s called an unmodified opinion. This is the highest opinion we can give,” Larson said, though he was quick to add that the designation is not a guarantee of perfection. “We are saying the financial statements are materially free from misstatement due to error or fraud.”
Larson said auditors also found no indication of fraud during the review.
The city also received an unmodified opinion on its federal compliance audit, which was required because the city received and spent more than $750,000 in federal awards. Total federal expenditures were $2.9 million, with auditors testing the housing voucher program and coronavirus local fiscal recovery funds, which together represented 72% of federal expenditures.
Despite the positive overall opinion, some findings from the prior year’s audit repeated, including those related to financial reporting closeout and cash reconciliations. Larson said the timing of the 2024 audit, which was completed late, limited the city’s ability to implement all corrections before the 2025 audit was finished.
“Although some of the findings that we had in the prior audit did repeat for fiscal year ’25, we did recognize significant improvements in the town’s financial processing and being able to pull documentation and ensure that fewer adjustments needed to be made to the financial statements,” Larson said.
He added that the city had submitted corrective action plans and that auditors believe those plans would resolve the issues if put into practice. He also noted that two of three prior federal findings from the 2024 audit had been cleared.
Mayor Roberta “Birdie” Cano said the context around the repeat findings was reassuring. “I’m glad you did give the explanation of having the audit late last year and how that kind of contributed to this year. So it’s not necessarily a repeat issue. It’s just kind of a time frame. So that makes me feel a lot better,” she said.
Sandra Knight, the city’s recreation manager, also spoke at the meeting and told the council that summer programming is in full swing, with the outdoor pool opening the day of the meeting for the first time with a fully staffed lifeguard team. “This has been the first year in a long time that I can say we’re fully staffed,” she said.
Co-ed softball is set to begin next week with 25 teams registered. Swim lessons are filling rapidly, deep water aerobics has moved outdoors and the indoor pool continues to host the self-described Silver Mermaids water aerobics group Monday through Friday. The summer calendar also includes July Jams, electric dance parties, DJ Night Swim events and the return of the Fourth of July cardboard boat races.
In other business, the council:
* Approved past meeting minutes and the check registry.
* Approved a contract with Pierce Coleman, PLLC for legal services at a cost of $15,250 a month.
* Approved a liquor license application for Loves Truck Stop located at 720 Transcon Lane.
