Council members opened a first reading of Ordinance 188-25, the proposed appropriations for the City of London for the fiscal year ending Dec. 31, 2026, and received a line-by-line overview from the finance committee and the city auditor.

“Overall, looks like there’s gonna be a 6.9% overall that’s proposed,” the committee chair said while highlighting two primary cost drivers: negotiated salary increases and health insurance. The finance report said negotiated salaries would rise 4% next year and health insurance costs were expected to increase by about 6%.

Committee members flagged several specific additions and changes in the draft ordinance. The budget includes a new $259,000 line for police department funding and an expected city contribution of about $93,000 toward the 4th Street courthouse project, which may be scheduled in a later year. Professional services in the auditor’s office were increased to cover human-resources work (an item noted as roughly $51,000), and payroll services with ADP were listed at $75,000 with an additional $11,000 for ADP benefits and a new recruiting feature.

“The platform we used to use was not compatible with the timing of payroll processing,” the city auditor said when explaining the ADP line. She described the ADP recruiting feature as a place where candidates can start profiles and push through background checks and drug-test requirements to streamline hiring.

Council members also discussed a new $40,000 line for events — including funds for a temporary stage — and sanitation-related increases: a roughly $200,000 rise in transfer costs and a truck-lease item specified around $133,000. Committee remarks described year-to-date revenue at about $19.83 million, with approximately $4.2 million in bond or debt that, when removed, left an operating figure cited at about $15.64 million; expenses were characterized in the meeting as roughly $14.78 million.

The ordinance received a first reading; council members encouraged colleagues to review the auditor’s more detailed report and to bring specific questions back at the next meeting. The auditor offered to provide additional line-item detail on request.

Next steps: the ordinance will return for further review and questions; no final vote was taken at the meeting.