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Hastings holds hearings on 2025–26 budget and property-tax request; one resident urges relief
Summary
The Hastings City Council opened public hearings on the proposed 2025–26 annual budget and on setting a property tax request different from 2024–25. Resident Edward Cruntz spoke during public comment about rising property valuations and tax increases; both hearings were closed with no formal changes and the council adjourned.
The Hastings City Council opened public hearings on the proposed 2025–26 annual budget and on a property tax request set at an amount different than the 2024–25 request, and invited public comment. One resident, Edward Cruntz of 1203 East Knight, spoke during the budget hearing, urging the council to reduce the proposed budget to lessen tax pressure on homeowners. Council members closed both hearings with no changes and adjourned the meeting.
The council first opened a public hearing on the proposed 2025–26 annual budget and asked for supporters or opponents to speak. Edward Cruntz identified himself as a Hastings resident and said he had reviewed property valuation increases for a small sample of people. Cruntz said, according to his review of “a random 13 people,” 10 had increases of less than 10% over three years and four had increases of more than 30%, and he said his own valuation had risen “over almost 45%.” He told the council he lives within his means and urged council members to “carve a little bit more out of that budget.”
Cruntz spoke at length about his experience with budgets and urged caution about repeated increases tied to valuation changes. He closed his comments by saying he thought the public notice he received indicated decisions were already made. The council then closed the budget hearing.
The body then opened a separate public hearing to set the property tax request for fiscal year 2025–26 at an amount different than the 2024–25 request. No members of the public spoke at that hearing, which the council closed without taking action to change the request during the meeting.
After the hearings the presiding official moved to adjourn; the meeting was declared adjourned at 6:05 p.m. The council indicated it would take a roughly 25-minute break and resume at 6:30 p.m. No formal votes on the budget or property-tax request were recorded in the transcript provided.
Why this matters: decisions about the city budget and the property-tax request set the funding level that can affect local services and individual property tax bills. Public hearings provide an opportunity for residents to present input before final actions are taken.
