Weston staff present 2026 budget preview; residents question refuse fees, Kennedy Park funding and capital needs

Department heads presented a preliminary 2026 general‑fund budget and described priorities across public safety, public works, parks, planning and administration at a Village of Weston budget workshop on 2025-09-09. The session included resident public comments about refuse and recycling fees, the proposed Kennedy Park project and intergovernmental agreements with the Town of Weston.

Public commenter Cindy Russell said she was concerned that refuse and recycling fees had not been raised for years and that the village’s 2014 intergovernmental agreements with the Town of Weston lack automatic CPI adjustments. She urged the board to renegotiate those agreements, examine alternatives such as short‑term borrowing, redirect tax increment financing (TIF) revenues, or use the general fund balance rather than imposing new or higher fees on residents.

Staff presented departmen…