City staff led a detailed review of the Streator preliminary 2026 budget during the council meeting, emphasizing that the draft is not balanced and that council action will be required before final adoption. Staff estimated that, if presented unchanged, the general fund would be approximately $1.7 million out of balance and outlined department requests and funding assumptions to guide council deliberations.

Public-safety requests were prominent. The fire department proposed creating a deputy chief position to provide around-the-clock incident-command coverage and administrative support; staff estimated the additional annual cost for the department at about $120,000, driven largely by hiring to backfill firefighter positions. Fire staff also discussed capital items and lifecycle replacements: two ambulances planned for delivery in 2027 (staff estimated $350,000 each and said payment would be due at delivery) and a possible utility pickup (~$40,000). Fire staff proposed a 10‑year lease for ZOLL cardiac monitors that would supply five monitors and include maintenance and upgrade options; staff described a lease cost in the transcript as roughly $50,000 per year for the five-unit program and noted a trade-in value for current monitors of about $30,000.

Police department requests included replacement laptops and docking stations (~$28,863), increased subscription costs for live-view camera services (roughly $4,500 added), squad vehicle purchases and outfitting (about $60,000 per squad), and replacement taser hardware and cartridges. Staff noted a pending COPS grant application for three officers that, if awarded, would pay roughly $45,000 per officer per year for three years but requires the city to maintain positions for an additional year beyond those three.

Community-development and TIF-related items included rebounding TIF revenues, a proposed $120,000 allocation for downtown facade grants (expected to fund five grants in 2026), and continued bond payments for Northpointe and other projects. Staff reported an awardable federal grant for the incubator (interior work of the armory) with local TIF match planning ($233,200 transfer identified). Staff said they are awaiting federal approval to award the incubator contract.

On revenues, staff cited a projected 2.7% increase in sales-tax receipts and an anticipated increase in EMS billing collections (staff indicated a revised projection for EMS billing nearer $1.415 million). A proposed property-tax levy scenario totaling a 4.99% increase (approx. $230,000) was presented to cover actuarial pension increases for police and fire and an increased library levy request; staff emphasized that rising assessed values in parts of the community could reduce individual taxpayer bills despite a higher levy.

Staff and council agreed to analyze alternative levy and expenditure scenarios and to reconvene with adjustments ahead of the levy deadline in December. No final levy vote or budget adoption occurred at the meeting.