Jamestown Mayor Kim Ecklund presents the Assessor, Corporation Counsel and Mayor’s office budget to the city council. P-J photo by Sara Holthouse

There is little change in the budgets for the Mayor’s office, Corporation Counsel’s office or the Assessor’s Office in the 2026 budget proposal by Mayor Kim Ecklund.

Beginning with the budget for the assessor’s office, Ecklund outlined the three employees in that office, including one part time person filling in at lunch time so the office is not closed at that busy time. The budget also included data collection tools and equipment, maintenance agreements, legal notices, dues and subscriptions, training and standard office supplies. Ecklund said this office’s budget is relatively simple, with one training required a year, and all of the job titles for the office are civil service titles.

For the Corporation Counsel’s office, the budget has pretty much no change from last year besides standard raises. Ecklund addressed software items and court fees, along with mandatory travel and education aspects, such as conferences.

One equipment item that was approved last month for the Corporation Counsel’s office is that of a copier or printer, which has previously been shared between offices.

“We find ourselves having to print between her office and my office some confidential stuff, so it was cheaper to purchase the printer than lease it,” Ecklund said. “Just a bigger desktop printer, not your standard purchase in the store but not a huge machine either.”

The Corporation Counsel’s budget also includes judgement and claims, which have increased, and parking enforcement, which revenue wise is bringing in more than $300,000 in parking violations.

In Ecklund’s own office, she addressed the Grants Coordinator salary, which may appear in a few different department budgets, noting that most other items remain flat year over year and some expenses are shared city-wide. This includes things such as Boxcast which is used for livestreaming, and Microsoft Office expenses.

Expenses in the areas such as office supplies, Ecklund said she has worked since taking office to change some of the way things are purchased around.

“I kind of changed around the purchasing of that when I took office because I was disgusted honestly at the amount of stuff that was marked with prior administration’s names,” Ecklund said. “We made it very generic and made the purchases at the end of the year so when a mayor does go out and a new mayor comes in it’s relevant to the correct budget. So, there hasn’t been a whole lot spent yet as far as the office supplies but that comes as well as the billing for the use of the copier in DOD, all of those things come at the end of the year.”

The Mayor’s vehicle lease was discussed, along with a section in the budget for city council, the new requirement from Microsoft for emails, and new monthly telephone fees. There is no increase for the council or mayor or any elected official for salaries, as all other positions in the mayor’s office will be seeing a two percent increase as there was no salary increase in 2025.