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Council sets goal to pursue a 5% tax-levy increase and asks staff for cut scenarios
Summary
Facing an FY26 draft that currently implies a double-digit levy increase, the council directed staff to produce options to reduce the combined municipal and school levy so the council can try to reach a 5% tax-levy increase target.
With the FY26 supplemental proposals included, the draft budget implied a tax-levy increase in the mid-teens percentage range. On March 24 the Auburn City Council agreed to set an aspirational target of a 5% tax-levy increase and directed the city manager and finance staff to return with cut and reallocation scenarios that would allow the council to pursue that target.
Councilors and staff reviewed contributing factors: higher debt service and county assessments that cannot be cut locally, lower-than-assumed growth in non-property tax revenues and several new or expanded municipal requests. Staff explained that reaching a 5% target will require identifying multi-million-dollar reductions across municipal and school operating budgets combined; staff and councilors discussed whether the reductions should be split between municipal and school budgets or concentrated in one area.
The mayor asked councilors to come prepared to prioritize reductions at the next workshop; staff agreed to compute the dollar reductions required and to present specific program-level and payroll/position options so the council can evaluate tradeoffs. The council set a procedural expectation: councilors will propose prioritized reductions and staff will estimate the fiscal impact for a follow-up workshop.
