Grand Island presents $57.1 million FY2025–26 budget; city, CRA and parking mill levies held steady

City Administrator Patrick Brown presented the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget to the Grand Island City Council during a public hearing Sept. 8, saying the proposal keeps the cityproperty tax request the same as prior years while reflecting higher property valuations and a large capital program.

"The budget document, I think, is one of the most important documents that the city has," Brown said as he summarized revenue projections, personnel changes and planned capital spending.

Brown told the council that total disbursements and transfers in the proposed FY26 budget increase about 8.3% compared with the adopted FY25 budget, driven primarily by use of general fund excess cash reserves and bond proceeds earmarked for several parks projects and anticipated spending in the Good Life District. He said all-funds revenue projections are conservative, rising roughly 1.2% compared with the prior year.

Property valuations in the city increased about $378 million (about 8.1%) compared with the prior year, Brown said. He noted that if the city applied the updated levy to the new valuation the citywould collect…