Monona — The Monona City Council voted Dec. 1 to adopt the 2026 operating budget as amended, approving a property-tax levy of $12,160,120.50 and a mill rate of 6.090281 per $1,000 of assessed value.

Finance Director Mark presented a set of seven amendments during the meeting. Council approved a debt-service amendment that reduced projected debt-service costs and lowered the levy impact, and later voted to transfer funds to debt service (amendment 2606) to offset levy increases. Council also approved a $9,074 amendment to cover two part-time library employees who opted into city health insurance; staff said the alternative would be for the library to find an equivalent cut.

Council debated a modest $2,000 allocation for AI training and exploration. Some members said free trainings are available and staff capacity to implement training is limited; staff noted the city joined the Government AI Coalition to review shared resources. The council approved the small training allocation but recorded several dissenting votes.

After handling technical amendments — including a $2,500 reallocation for media equipment and clarification of debt-service repayments tied to recent borrowings — Finance presented the final levy and mill-rate figures. Mark said the levy required to fund the budget is $12,160,120.50 and the rate to be established is 6.090281 per $1,000.

Clerk called the roll on the final operating-budget motion and the council approved the budget as amended. Mark told council he would file the tax levy with the county the following day and staff expected tax bills to be printed and mailed early the following week. Finance noted that most of the overall $740 increase in an average resident’s tax bill reflected school and other taxing jurisdictions, not the city’s portion.

The budget adoption followed earlier council action approving an updated fee schedule (with some items deferred for further review) that staff said had already been reflected in revenue assumptions for the draft budget.

The council directed staff to publish the adopted budget and the amended fee schedule in the minutes and on the city website.