Tom Joyce

A temporary hiring freeze for some vacancies is in place as the City of Minot seeks to position itself for a tough budget cycle.

City Manager Tom Joyce told the Minot City Council on Monday, May 18, that five vacant positions that draw on general fund spending are not being filled currently. They include an assistant city manager, a public information officer, financial clerk, mechanic and engineering technician.

Joyce said he has been approving hiring for police, fire and dispatch.

City departments have been asked to trim their 2027 budget requests by 3% from 2026 spending. The 2027 budget tentatively includes a 4% cumulative salary increase and estimated 7% increase for benefits.

Joyce said he also is looking at whether certain employee positions need to be a full 40 hours a week.

“That’s marginal savings, but if you work an average of over 30 hours a week, you still get full-time benefits. I don’t want to cut anybody’s pay, but again, this is the kind of financial condition we currently find ourselves in,” he said.

He also said he also will look at the city’s current paid time off policy, which gives the finance director and himself the authority to choose to not buy out unused PTO at the end of the year.

We need to look hard at fees and charges,” Joyce added. “Some kind of marginal increase in fees and charges is more than likely appropriate.”

He recommended reviewing fees every year to ensure the city is keeping up with inflation and to help avoid spikes in those charges to catch up.

“I just want to make sure we’re keeping up with that and doing that right – and thoughtfully. I don’t want just a blanket increase,” he said.

Additionally, department heads are looking at delaying equipment purchases in 2026 to avoid overspending. The addition of more police officers will require more police equipment.

“I want to stay as tight as we can to that 2026 budget because I really don’t want to be dipping into general fund reserves any more than we already have in the budget,” Joyce said. “Deferred maintenance may come into play. That’s always something hard to look at because we always know if you defer it, there’s a good chance you pay for it next year and the next year. But we’re going to look at these things with a lot of rigor.”