Village Council drills down on 2027 budget

• By Reilly Dixon
• Published: October 13, 2026

As the year winds down, Village staff and Council members are aiming to finalize a municipal budget for 2027.

Following several special finance-focused meetings over the coming weeks, Council will ultimately approve next year’s budget at a regular Council meeting with the passage of an ordinance. Before that legislation appears before the group, they’ll drill down on which Council-specific initiatives — events, special projects and the commissions they oversee — are funded and how much, as well as which capital initiatives for local infrastructure improvements to prioritize and fund.

The first of these meetings was scheduled to take place Wednesday, Oct. 7, after the News’ deadline last week; more in-depth coverage of that and the still-forthcoming budget session will appear in a future issue.

Ahead of Monday’s regular Council meeting, outgoing Village Finance Director Michele Robinson and financial consultant Tiffany Hiser issued a memo with a preliminary 2027 budget.

They forecast that all Village operations and expenses for next year will necessitate a total budget of $19,715,334, with revenue coming in at an estimated $18,646,160.

Though next year’s expenses are projected to outpace revenues, the Village will have $16.2 million in cash reserves as a buoy — an amount down from 2026’s reserves of $17.3 million.

The general fund — the Village’s primary financial well for government operations, including money for Village Council, and which bankrolls municipal services beyond self-sustaining utilities —  is the largest of the Village’s funds, projected for 2027 at $4.6 million.

General fund revenues are expected to be $5.2 million and expenses $5.9 million — amounting to a projected deficit of $688,234 for next year.

In speaking with the News following Monday’s meeting, Village Council President Gavin DeVore Leonard said that Council passing a deficit budget has been par for the course for the last several years — including this one, which began with a projected deficit of more than $550,000, and has since been balanced.

In DeVore Leonard’s view, the Village tends to budget conservatively by projecting greater expenses and less revenue than what will actually come to pass.

“These deficit budgets are always likely to be balanced in the end,” he told the News.

He noted that, like past budgets, this one accounts for a full Village staff across each department, and one that utilizes most available benefits and potential wage increases. Of note, the Village manager, assistant manager, public works director and soon, the finance director, are all vacant.

“The current draft of the budget is basically the maximum possible staffing scenario for these positions,” DeVore Leonard said.  “Council’s top priority will be finding a new Village manager, who will then make decisions about the other positions.  We are likely to approve a budget that gives maximum flexibility, but we’ll work together in the months ahead to ensure that we have a structure that will work now and into the future both in terms of capacity to do the work that’s been prioritized and to ensure fiscal responsibility.”

He continued: “For example, based on initial conversations, it’s our understanding that our current staff and Shared Resource Center can fulfill the duties of the outgoing finance director at a significant cost savings to the Village. They’ll add about one day per week of capacity.  We are exploring what that looks like beyond the short term.  Also, the Village has not always had a public works director, and other similar-sized municipalities do not have this layer of management. Our understanding currently is that we have a very strong public works team, so we’ll be looking for a recommendation on the best staffing structure and accompanying costs.”

Also included in the preliminary budget are a gamut of capital expenses — requests from department heads, mostly for infrastructure and equipment upgrades and replacements. The more expensive ones include:

• YSPD is requesting $80,000 for a new cruiser and $30,000 for new portable radios;

• $200,000 for the electric department to finish the center circuit and switch station rehab, and $60,000 on new equipment;

• $32,000 to clean and video four of the Village’s water wells;

• $30,000 for transformer upgrades;

• Nearly $100,000 in improvements to Yellow Springs parks, including upgrades to the baseball and softball diamonds;

• More than $618,000 for local sewer improvements, which include replacing an aging pump and blower, and “sliplining” a mile of sanitary sewer lines;

• $20,000 for ongoing sidewalk repairs;

• $50,000 for a new camera system in the Bryan Center;

• $16,500 in repairs to the Village-owned Lawson Place apartments; and

• $75,000 for tornado siren upgrades.

Which ones, if not all, and to what degree these capital projects are funded will largely be determined at Council’s forthcoming budget sessions.

The News will continue to report on Council’s ongoing 2027 budget process.

In other Village Council business, Oct. 5—

Manager search underway

Council President DeVore Leonard shared that he and Vice President Angie Hsu have taken the latest steps in finding a new Village manager — to fill the position after Johnnie Burns’ resignation this summer, and to follow Jeff Sheridan once his interim role expires.

DeVore Leonard said that they have narrowed down the pool of potential manager search firms to two: Pracademic Partners and Raftelis Financial Consultants, Inc. Both of these national firms are in the business of management consulting and work with municipalities to hire individuals for local leadership positions.

The next step will be taken at the Oct. 19 Village Council meeting when the group will announce which of those two firms was chosen.

From there, the permanent manager search will take approximately three to four months, DeVore Leonard said.

He added that public engagement will be a part of the search process, with some kind of event to be scheduled when villagers can meet the candidates and “weigh in with how they feel.”

“But if you have opinions now on what kind of manager you want, this is the time. Speak up and share,” he said, addressing community members. 

Solicitor floats ballot initiative

Also at Monday’s meeting, Village Solicitor Amy Blankenship addressed recent calls from some village residents to improve the way in which the Village’s recall process operates, should citizens wish to remove an elected official from office.

Presently, the Village Charter allows the following provisions for a recall:

• Members of the Council may be removed from office by the electors through the procedure prescribed in this Charter;

• Members of Council may be removed from office before the expiration of their term by the qualified voters of the Village. The procedure for such recall shall be that provided in the Ohio Revised Code.

In other words, the local law defers to state law in matters of recall. Essentially, Ohio’s process is this:

A recall is initiated when a petition is signed by at least 15% of the total votes cast at the most recent municipal elections. That petition, which is only valid for 90 days after the first signature, is submitted to the board of elections. If it’s sufficient and the elected official does not resign within five days, an election is held at the next primary or general election occurring more than 90 days from the finding that the petition is sufficient. That election determines the fate of the person being recalled, and who their successor is.

According to Blankenship on Monday, Yellow Springs would do well to include the state’s specific language for these provisions in the Village Charter.

“We need to have a more established, set-forth process for recall in our charter,” she said. “One that will simply mimic the recall process set forth in the ORC. We’ll rely on that process, which has always been the intention.”

She alluded to a July 2025 Ohio Supreme Court decision regarding a case that emerged from Maumee, Ohio, that determined that chartered municipalities must set forth a specific recall process and not just rely on the language the state provides. Blankenship said Maumee’s initial charter had language similar to Yellow Springs’, “Though a little vaguer than ours,” she said, but similar enough to spur her into motion.

In order to make this change, the Village Charter must be amended, which requires a ballot initiative.

Blankenship noted that it’s too late for a Charter amendment to appear in front of voters at this November’s election, but it could appear on the May 4, 2027, ballot, should the legislation be submitted to the Board of Elections by Feb. 3, 2027.

At the discussion’s end, Blankenship was deputized to draft legislation language for further consideration at a future Council meeting.

The next Village Council meeting will be Monday, Oct. 17, at 6 p.m., in John Bryan Community Center.

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