City presents 2026 recommended budget that calls for 7.8% levy increase; BET to set maximum next week

Good evening: City budget officials presented the mayor’s recommended 2026 budget to the Board of Estimate and Taxation on Sept. 10, 2025, asking the BET to set a maximum property tax levy that would raise the total levy by 7.8 percent compared with 2025. Jane DeCenzo, the city’s budget director, and Justin Coles, the manager of budget information and analysis, outlined spending and revenue changes needed to balance a budget driven by rising personnel and capital costs.

The presentation showed total city spending rising about 7.41 percent — roughly $140 million — with 24 percent of that growth coming from salaries and fringe benefits and 64 percent from an expanded capital program. Budget staff said the 7.8 percent levy is the product of multiple management decisions that reduced an early current-service estimate of 13.1 percent down to the recommended figure, including revised vacancy assumptions, reductions in contracted services, and other administrative savings.

City officials said the levy recommendation is the final balancing tool after forecasting non‑property revenue streams such as local option sales…