McCall council sets tentative $42.24 million FY2026 budget; schedules hearings on foregone levy

The McCall City Council on Wednesday set a tentative Fiscal Year 2026 budget of $42,244,085 and approved moving forward with a foregone-property-tax request to cover operating and maintenance needs, councilors said during a two-hour work session on the draft budget. Council also scheduled public hearings on both the tentative budget and the foregone amount for Aug. 14.

The tentative budget includes $24,456,545 in general fund expenditures, $2,879,397 for the golf enterprise and $14,908,143 for the water department, according to staff presentations. Randy, the city finance lead, told council the goal for FY2026 was to balance operations and maintenance (O&M) with revenues so the city would not draw down reserves for routine services.

Why it matters: the tentative budget and the foregone levy set the maximum the city may spend next fiscal year and trigger statutorily required public notices and hearings. Council approval of the tentative total and the foregone request authorizes staff to publish the numbers and solicit public comment before final adoption.

Key elements and council discussion

City staff said the proposed FY2026 budget balances O&M locally while preserving capacity for capital projects. Randy said the budget assumes a projected drop of roughly 30% in certain development-fee revenues tied to permit administration being shifted to the county — a loss staff estimated in the hundreds of thousands — but that new construction and increases in tax base offset much of the gap. “The budget this year, the goal was to . . . make O&M balance with our revenues so that…