Franklin mayor, finance staff flag tight 2026 budget and narrow levy limits; preliminary numbers show roughly $480,000 in new levy capacity

The mayor and city finance staff told the Franklin City Finance Committee that preliminary property-value corrections and net new construction will raise the city's allowable levy only modestly for the 2026 budget, leaving about $480,000 in additional tax revenue to divide among departments, the library and capital projects.

Danielle (finance staff) said the assessor initially reported about $94 million–$95 million in net new construction, equal to roughly a 1.46% increase in the levy limit and about a $300,000 increase in levy capacity, but Department of Revenue corrections raised the figure. "With the adjustment from the Department of Revenue it'll be a 1 time adjustment for 2025's levy limit worksheet," Danielle said, describing a corrected net new construction rate that raised the city's net-new-construction percentage to about 2.07 percent and the city's maximum levy to about $24.2 million. Danielle cautioned the numbers are preliminary and…