Avon presents 2026 non-general fund budget; public hearing has no public comment

Town Manager Ryan presented the town's 2026 proposed non-general fund budgets to the Avon Town Council on Sept. 11 and opened a public hearing; no residents spoke and the hearing closed at 7:43 p.m.

Ryan said the county-certified assessed value posted a 5.19% increase over the prior year and gave an on-record certified value figure (reported in the presentation). He outlined the major non-general funds and notable changes, including: - Parks (Food & Beverage): Food-and-beverage tax revenues fund parks operations; staff proposed design work for the White Lake Creek bridge connection between Town Hall Park and Summerlot Park, trail design work and equipment replacement. Ryan said payments to the YMCA will end in 2026 and that will free some parks funding partway through the year. - Recreation impact fee (RIF): The town collects a per-residential-permit fee (about $1,300 per new residential permit) restricted to park land, trails, playgrounds, shelters and courts; design and trail connections, including a connection to the high school, are planned for 2026. - TIF (Tax Increment Financing): TIF funds will continue to support Dan Jones Road widening phase 3 construction, pavement and intersection improvements, and conceptual work on a possible police substation/public-works site; staff noted TIF fund balances have been spent down in recent years and are tighter than earlier periods. - CCD (Cumulative Capital Development): A 5-cent tax rate funds street maintenance, vehicle replacement and police vehicle purchases; Ryan proposed a one-time $600,000 CCD contribution toward Dan Jones widening phase 3 to reduce pressure on TIF. - Wheel tax: The newly adopted municipal wheel tax is forecast at $400,000 and the manager proposed using it split between local paving and Dan Jones widening phase 3. - Stormwater utility: The stormwater budget will fund drainage engineering and small repairs; staff noted the stormwater utility budget declined from about $1.5 million to roughly $1.325 million in the proposed year as capital projects were completed. - Economic development income tax (EDIT): Ryan proposed increasing the Chamber of Commerce contribution from $10,000 to $30,000 to help cover transition support following the planned retirement of the town's economic-development director; the fund will also continue to cover police technology, maintenance life-cycle modeling and a part-time to full-time main-street coordinator role.

Staff identified several near-term projects: continued trail design and construction, pickleball court development, Dan Jones Road phase 3 design/construction, the White Lake Creek bridge preliminary design, and stormwater improvements at Pines of Avon. Ryan told the council the proposed budgets are balanced across the general and non-general funds as presented; he asked councilors to identify any requested changes before the Oct. 9 adoption meeting.

During the meeting, councilors asked clarifying questions about the rainy-day reserve, the life-cycle pavement modeling contract, storm-drain cleaning schedules and staffing. Ryan and department directors explained that the rainy-day line ($250,000 professional services) is a standard annual appropriation for emergency professional services; storm drains are cleaned on a rotation that takes roughly 12 years to cover the system.

Ending: The council held the public hearing with no public comment and will consider any requested changes and formal adoption at upcoming meetings, with final adoption advertised for Oct. 9.