Jackson Town Council members and senior staff met in a special retreat to review the town's five-year financial model, talk through strategic priorities and chart what to address in the next 12–24 months.

The most immediate focus was the town's budget outlook. Finance Director Kelly Thompson summarized the five-year model used in the adopted 2024 budget and told the council that, under current assumptions, the town can rely on reserves to cover shortfalls for a period but should plan now to close a structural gap. Thompson said the town's general fund revenues are strongly driven by sales and lodging taxes—about 70% of the general fund—and that the lines between expenditures and revenues have begun to diverge because expenditures (largely payroll and service costs) are growing faster than revenues.

Why this matters: council members repeatedly told staff they want to protect core services—water, sewer, roads, public safety and emergency services—while finding dedicated or new revenue sources for high-priority investments such as housing, transportation and conservation. Several council members and staff framed the retreat as a chance to decide which bigger projects the town should pursue and how to pay for them over the next budget cycle.

Budget details and next steps
Kelly Thompson said the town still has a financial runway: the adopted forecast keeps reserve levels above the town's 25% target through the next fiscal year, but continued divergence could require action within roughly two years. Staff presented a calendar for the FY 2026 budget process: departments will submit baseline budget requests and staff will return to council with proposals and tradeoffs; council will have formal budget review sessions in spring and adopt the budget by the statutory deadlines.

Council members asked staff to bring options to increase revenues or reallocate spending rather than proposing immediate cuts to core services. Staff noted two near-term budget factors that improve the five-year outlook: audited FY 2024 results that were modestly better than estimated and a county/town funding shift related to last year's justice-center ballot measure that reduces required town transfers into joint departments for a multi-year phase-in.

Capital, maintenance and staffing
Town Manager Tyler and department heads highlighted capital needs that have accumulated as the town expanded services. Notable one-time projects in recent years (for example, a fleet maintenance facility and rec center expansion) reduced reserves but were funded largely with designated capital or grant funds, staff said. Public Works Director Lauren Haver explained that more complete inventories of buried infrastructure and stormwater needs have surfaced additional capital projects; she and other department heads recommended adopting a more systematic capital-improvement plan that accounts for deferred maintenance.

Several department heads flagged workforce and seasonal housing as a constraint on service delivery: hiring and retention for public safety, Parks & Rec and START transit depend in part on seasonal housing or employee housing options. Staff reminded the council that about $10 million in voter-approved SPET funding has been allocated for employee housing and recommended developing a formal employee-housing strategy to guide how that money would be used.

Housing, land-development rules and planning
Housing supply and preservation were repeated retreat themes. April Norton, housing director for the joint town/county housing office, said the department will continue work on projects such as the 90 Virginia Lane development and programs including deed-restriction and preservation work. Planning Director Paul Venezia urged the council to consider whether to scope a full comprehensive-plan update or a narrower scoping process that focuses on the parts of the comp plan and the land-development regulations (LDRs) most in need of change—items staff and several council members identified as priorities.

Council members expressed differing views on scope: some favor a limited scoping and iterative adjustments, while others asked staff to identify the likely calendar and council time required for a comprehensive update. Staff said scoping is a reasonable first step and recommended defining the public engagement and staffing needs before authorizing a major rewrite.

Transportation, parking and START transit
START transit and transportation staff emphasized capacity and funding constraints. START Director Bruce Hoeft reported that federal and state grants fund a large share of annual operating and capital expenses; he warned the council that federal funding is significant but comes with compliance requirements and long procurement lead times. Transportation manager Charlotte Fry and START staff recommended a coordinated approach to on‑street parking management, mobility hubs and transportation impact studies tied to new development so that the town can identify mitigation measures and dedicated revenue options before large projects are approved.

Infrastructure, information technology and records
IT and town-clerk staff asked the council to prioritize improvements that would make operations more efficient and transparent: a chambers audiovisual upgrade and a server room project are both slated for capital consideration; records digitization and improved public access to documents were also raised as priorities. IT Director Zola Solano warned that software and maintenance costs are rising and that the town should consider multi-year contracting to lock in pricing where practical.

Public safety and wildfire
Police and fire chiefs described operational priorities: recruitment and retention, training capacity, and wildfire risk mitigation. Fire leadership said the town is finalizing a Community Wildfire Protection Plan (CWPP) with prioritized mitigation actions; staff plan to present the CWPP to the joint town/county bodies for adoption.

Process and what happens next
Council members were asked to allocate 14 “dots” apiece to indicate which priorities they most want staff to pursue this year; staff will aggregate the dotting results and come back tomorrow morning with a narrower set of follow-up questions and a recommended sequencing of work. Staff emphasized that the dot exercise is advisory and will inform subsequent budget and calendar choices rather than being a formal commitment to adopt a particular project.

Ending: council direction and timing
Staff told the council they will return during the formal budget calendar with baseline requests and options for revenue and expenditure scenarios, and that the council will have a chance this spring to review capital and operating tradeoffs before finalizing the FY 2026 budget. Directors said they will continue to brief the council on work tied to the retreat: housing projects, LDR scoping, the five-year financial plan, wildfire mitigation and targeted infrastructure projects.

No formal votes or policy adoptions were recorded at the retreat; staff will translate the council's dot priorities into a recommended work plan and budget scenarios for additional deliberation.