Monona committee reviews 2026 operating budgets as health insurance, sewer and EMS costs rise

Mayor Moore convened the Monona Committee of the Whole on Thursday to review department operating budgets for 2026, hear line‑item explanations from department heads and schedule the first budget reading before the full council.

Senior‑services director Diane told the council the "biggest change" in the senior center budget is that "health insurance is up," and she flagged a rise in demand for the RSVP (Retired Senior Volunteer Program) medical‑ride coordination service: "we were in, like, the 100‑ish rides in 2024. Already in 2025, we're at, like, 222." Diane said the city pays for coordination and limited mileage reimbursement and confirmed there is no set charge to users, though donations are accepted.

Leah, Monona's IT director, said the IT budget reflects a roughly 6% increase driven by consolidating software licenses previously paid by other departments into IT — including the new agenda management and social media‑archiving services and a NeoGov policy‑management module intended to centralize operations policies and onboarding. "Presently, I don't believe that any departments are using much of any AI," Leah said, noting concerns about inserting city information into public cloud services and the need for clear policies and private cloud options if the city adopts AI tools.

Fire Chief Jerry Friar described a straightforward fire budget with cost‑of‑living increases and called attention to engine maintenance this year of about $18,000 and an incoming engine with a five‑year bumper‑to‑bumper warranty. Friar said EMS revenues are up by about $55,000 and that increased collections lead to higher service‑collection fees and supply costs; those added expenditures are expected to be funded from the higher revenue.

Police Chief Cheney said salaries are a major driver in the police budget because of contractual wage spreads and a planned hire of one full‑time officer; he also described moving recurring licensing for recording and body‑camera software from capital to operating as an annual licensing cost. Cheney thanked the council for training funding that has supported crisis‑intervention and other specialized programs and outlined recruitment activity that produced the largest applicant pool in recent years.

Public Works director Dan walked through several reallocations: street, sidewalk and curb repair money moved from capital to an operating account; a forecasted decrease in fuel costs that reduces fuels and additives lines; and the forestry budget change that shifts Christmas‑tree collection in‑house with the resulting decrease in contracted brush pickup. Dan also said the water utility includes an $8,000 increase tied to a projected 7.2% combined MG&E power increase and a one‑time $1,000 cost for an EPA five‑year recertification of the utility resilience assessment and emergency response plan. For sanitary sewer, the budget anticipates an 8% MMSD rate increase, about $95,000, that the council noted is largely outside local control.

Finance staff outlined contingency and transfers: a prior transfer of around $654,000 to debt service is not repeated this year, and the city is drawing down referendum contingency funds in staged amounts. Council members discussed a 15–20% policy range for fund‑balance reserves and whether some surplus could be used to reduce the debt service levy while maintaining prudent reserves.

Council directed staff to publish the budget packet and scheduled the first read of amendments for the coming Monday, with a second read set for the first Monday in December. The meeting adjourned by voice vote.

Next steps: council members may submit budget amendments by the posted deadline; any amendment that increases the levy will need offsets because levy room is nearly exhausted, staff said.