Monroe staff presents FY 2025–26 general fund budget overview; revenue‑neutral rate, reserve and public‑safety funding debated

City finance staff on April 29 presented an overview of the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 general fund budget to Monroe City Council, explaining revenue drivers, the revenue‑neutral tax calculation, reserve balances and recommended fee and staffing changes. No final budget adoption occurred; staff will return for further discussion and enterprise fund review on May 13.

Finance Director Lisa Strickland led the presentation. She said the revenue‑neutral tax rate was calculated under state statute and reported on the record as 38.74 cents ($0.3874). Strickland described how that rate is a single, statutory calculation intended to yield the same revenue as the current year after revaluation and growth are applied. Staff showed scenarios for different homeowner value brackets to illustrate how revaluation changes taxable values and individual tax bills.

Strickland and other staff walked council through key figures used in the draft general fund discussion: the FY 2025 assessed value figure cited in the presentation, prior revaluation comparators and an FY 2026 valuation figure from Union County that staff used to calculate the revenue‑neutral rate. The presentation noted that 64.2% of Monroe homes fall in the “median” value bracket used in the examples and that 15.9% were shown in a lower bracket, together representing about 76.6% of the residential tax base under the current valuation.

Staff highlighted several revenue and…