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City manager to submit FY2026 budget next Monday; National Park Service visitor center design nearing completion
Summary
City Manager Zach Walker told the council the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget will be submitted next Monday with multiple department presentations and public hearings planned; he also reported that the National Park Service visitor center final design is nearing completion with construction expected to start around May 2026.
City Manager Zach Walker told the Independence City Council on May 5 that he will formally submit the fiscal year 2025–26 proposed budget to the council next Monday and outlined upcoming opportunities for public review.
“The evening that we will formally submit the fiscal year 2025–26 budget to the council for consideration. There are gonna be plenty of opportunities, for review and engagement thereafter,” Walker said, adding the council will have two nights where each department will present detailed budgets and that a public hearing will be scheduled for residents to provide input.
Walker also provided an update on the National Park Service visitor center project, a joint effort with the federal government to replace the current visitor space at Old Fire Station 1. He said final design is nearing completion, the National Park Service anticipates bidding the project before the end of the year, and construction is expected to start about a year from now, in May 2026, with the facility opening roughly a year after construction begins.
Council member McCandless earlier warned of tightening city finances and the loss of federal funds for certain programs, saying the council will face difficult budget decisions as grant support declines. "We are losing federal funds that we have used for the police department to do some of our DUI checks ... We are gonna have hard decisions about how we spend the limited dollars that we have," McCandless said.
Why it matters: The budget schedule signals the start of the city’s formal FY2026 process; residents and organizations have scheduled opportunities to review departmental presentations and provide public comment. Walker’s timeline for the National Park Service project provides a rough schedule for a significant visitor amenity tied to federal construction timelines.
What was not resolved: The council did not vote on the FY2026 budget at the May 5 meeting; Walker said department-level hearings and a public hearing will follow the formal submission.
