After some discussion, the Wright City Board of Aldermen approved their fiscal year 2026 budget during their meeting Dec. 30.

As an initial discussion point Alderman Don Andrews said he wants to vote no on the proposed budget. The primary reason was because he said he was concerned with the Excel spreadsheet the city uses for its budget and the formulas related to that spreadsheet.

“For the last three years we have been fighting this. (Mayor) Michelle (Heiliger) and (City Clerk) Abbie (Ogborn) have been going at it non-stop for months prior to us voting for our budget, fixing issues time and time again on a spreadsheet honestly that was made by somebody else,” Andrews said.

Andrews further stated, “We really need to have some serious conversations about where we want to go as a city, as the board with how we track this.”

Andrews suggested perhaps purchasing accounting software to better facilitate preparation of the budget.

Alderman Ramiz Hakim said Wright City has safeguards in place that other municipalities do not have that he felt would alleviate some of the concerns regarding the budget.

“Number one is no changes to spending lines can me made without a vote of a board,” Hakim said. “Second thing is, a couple of years ago, the board decided to not issue pay increases at the end of the year, but rather at the middle of the year, which forces us to then reengage with the budget and make sure we are still in alignment.”

Heiliger said the city has recently hired a new treasurer (Nick Bowman) who is more adept at Excel than Heiliger or Ogborn.

“We brought the accounting software to this board multiple times, and have let all of you know for two solid years that we needed new accounting software,” Heiliger said, adding that the city’s software is “terrible.”

Andrews noted that one of the reasons the board has not gone forward with new software was because of the cost of such software. Andrews reiterated that he was not comfortable putting his name on the budget for the third year in a row without a discussion regarding new accounting software.

Alderman Karey Owens said she has looked through every cell of the Excel worksheet and she is confident in the formulas used. Owens though agreed the city’s current accounting software needed to be upgraded.

Hakim said the city is currently using gWorks, which he described as an “archaic” system.

Hakim added that the city has taken a hard stance on not deficit spending, sometimes to the city’s detriment. Heiliger then added that this is the first year the city is budgeting in a surplus. Hakim suggested using any surplus to fund accounting software needs.

Hakim then suggested a line item for accounting software to commit to the proposal as a way to ameliorate Andrew’s concerns. 

Alderman Kim Arbuthnot agreed, saying the current software gives her anxiety.

The board discussed that the cost for such software would be $40,000 up front, with an annual cost of $30,000 to $40,000.

Hakim suggested approving the budget as currently set and then amending the budget in January to add the accounting software to the budget.

After some more brief discussion the board voted unanimously, 4-0, to approve the budget as presented.

Based upon budget documents provided by the city, the proposed revenues for 2026 total $3,814,909.34, while proposed expenses total $3,449,077.60. The majority of those expenses come from the police department, whose proposed expenditures total $2,065,755.31.