Finance Director Susie Micah presented the Village of Villa Park's draft 2026 budget at a public hearing, telling trustees the general fund is expected to end fiscal 2025 about $5,500,000 "in the black," and that staff proposes using nearly that balance to cover a projected FY2026 general-fund deficit of about $5,400,000.

"As an overall view of the budget, the general fund is expected to end this fiscal year, 2025, with 5,500,000.0 in the black," Micah said, summarizing revenues and planned expenditures across funds. She told the board that capital, police and other enterprise funds generally net to proposed revenue levels and that some funds—most notably street improvement and capital-project funds—require additional refinement before the board sees a final proposal on Dec. 8.

During public comment, Cheryl Tucker raised detailed questions about duplicate account numbers and inconsistent line-item amounts for mosquito maintenance and tree trimming, citing account numbers she found in the draft (10251 and 10258). She also asked why the 1% cannabis-tax allocation that had been discussed previously for a future swimming-pool fund still appears under parks.

Micah answered that the duplicate numbers reflect account consolidations across funds and that there are no monies budgeted in the older account 10258 for 2026 because the amounts were consolidated into 10251. "So for 2026, there's, again, no money's budgeted, and that shows that clearly on the report," Micah said.

Board members and staff also heard from a long-time pantry volunteer (identified during remarks as Larry Hebrith), who urged stronger village partnership with the Outreach House food pantry, noting the pantry's role serving a high share of Villa Park residents and asking the board to consider discretionary support.

President and trustees closed the public hearing at 7:13 p.m. after a voice vote and directed staff to finalize small refinements and return a final budget proposal to the board at the Dec. 8 meeting.

What happens next: staff will finalize account consolidations and bring a refined budget and any recommended amended transfers to the board at the next meeting on Dec. 8; residents who raised line-item or allocation questions were told the reports will show consolidations and that minutes and supporting materials are available for review.