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Council advances 2026 budget, reads tax ordinances on first reading
Summary
On first reading the council read and moved to advance the 2026 appropriations ordinance setting a $62.2 million general fund and read a set of tax ordinances (business privilege, earned income, local services, and real-estate millage) to maintain current tax levels; staff said line-item detail will be available at the public hearing.
Council members conducted the first reading of Bill 7, the 2026 appropriations ordinance, and moved the item for second reading. The clerk read the ordinance in full and recited major line items: a $62,199,011 general-fund budget before unpaid pensions; prior-year unpaid pensions were estimated at $43,000,000, producing a total general-fund expense of $105,199,011 when pensions are included.
The reading listed key revenue and appropriation figures: real estate and library taxes $10,235,000; Act 511 taxes $26,611,000; fines/licenses/permits $3,676,168; intergovernmental revenues $3,922,187; host fees $16,306,000. Other funds read included an ARPA fund set at $9,165,908, a capital fund at $1,742,667, a rubbish fund at $4,383,804 and a rental-inspection fund at $730,255.
Council also placed Bills 8–12 on first reading. Those ordinances re-enact personnel compensation provisions (Bill 8), the business privilege tax (Bill 9), the earned income tax (Bill 10), the local services tax (Bill 11), and the property-tax millage (Bill 12). Council members clarified these measures do not raise rates: a finance committee chair emphasized that 'none of our taxes have gone up' and the levies remain unchanged for 2026.
Councilors asked for clearer line-item presentation: a member sought clarification about a 'department of administrative support' shown as a $4,781,524 line; CFO and staff said that amount aggregates administrative line items across departments and will be re-categorized for second reading. The council set a public hearing on the budget for Dec. 8, 2025 at 1 p.m., and staff noted full line-item details are available in the clerk's office and online.
Next steps: Second reading and final vote are scheduled at a future meeting after staff revises the ordinance language to show administrative allocations in department-level attachments.
