If you or someone you know leans on Columbia’s Utility Assistance Program to keep the lights or the AC on, there’s a budget fight starting right now that’s worth watching.
Columbia’s city council got its first look at the 2027 budget this week, and one number stood out: an audit by the accounting firm RubinBrown found that Columbia residents getting utility help are receiving an average of $874 a year — far above the $250 to $430 typical of comparable cities, according to the Columbia Missourian. City staff are now proposing to cap the program at $400 a year for electric bills and $200 a year for everything else — water, gas, trash — which would still cover roughly 900 households under the new limits.
The dollars behind it are shrinking too. The Missourian reports the city is proposing $400,000 for the program in fiscal year 2027, down from the roughly $600,000 it’s budgeted in recent years. The Utility Assistance Program started out funded by voluntary donations from utility customers, then got a boost from federal American Rescue Plan Act money during the pandemic — money that’s now gone, which is part of why the city says the math no longer works the way it used to.
Finance Director Matthew Lue walked the council through the revenue and spending trends behind the proposal Monday. Nothing is final: the city has scheduled public hearings for August 16 and September 8, with the council expected to make adjustments and finalize the budget September 21, per the Missourian’s reporting. Fiscal year 2027 begins October 1.
It’s easy to read this as a Columbia-only story, but it isn’t, really. Boone County’s the hub a lot of us drive into for doctors, shopping, and errands, and the households squeezed by a smaller assistance program are neighbors, not strangers. If you or someone you know has used the program, the August 16 and September 8 hearings are the windows to say so before the council locks in a number.