City manager previews balanced 2026 budget; recommends $35.1 million levy, highlights wage study and stable reserves

City Manager Moore and Director of Administration Tricia Davy presented an overview of the proposed 2026 budget, telling the City Council the document is balanced, that the city’s fund balance is stronger than in recent decades, and that the administration will ask the council to approve a $35.1 million tax levy for 2026.

Moore said the proposed levy includes $19.1 million directed to the general fund, and the library allocation is proposed flat at $2.1 million for 2026. He described three strategic priorities that guided the budget: maximizing public safety, expanding prosperity (including housing and partnerships), and maintaining city assets through capital investment. Moore said the city’s bond rating was affirmed by Standard & Poor’s and that the administration sees the budget as providing historic stability.

The presentation summarized revenue and expenditure expectations: non-property tax revenues of about $22.1 million and property tax support contributing $19.1 million of the general-fund revenue picture; total citywide expenditures shown near $41.5 million in the preparatory materials. Moore said the recommended budget meets expenditure-restraint constraints and fits within levy limits and that fund balance use in the general fund is minimal (less than 0.5 percent) to achieve balanced books.

Moore and Davy also reviewed revaluation outcomes: nearly 15,000 assessment notices were mailed, open-book hearings involved 409 property owners, 307 adjustments were granted at open book and the Board of Review later granted 2 of 12 remaining objections. Moore emphasized that revaluation changes valuation shares but does not itself drive the levy level.

Staff discussed a completed wage-study effort: the administration proposes market alignment, job classification updates and adding one step to each nonunion employee salary schedule effective Jan. 1, 2026. Moore said health-insurance premiums will remain roughly flat into 2026 and that labor negotiations are progressing with tentative agreements expected from public-safety bargaining units in the weeks ahead; those outcomes were accounted for in the proposed budget.

Moore said the proposed capital improvement plan and budget book will be posted Friday and the council will hold a third September meeting to consider budget adoption and related matters. Councilmembers asked clarifying questions; no votes were taken at the presentation.