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Middleton panel previews 2026 proposed budget, aims for balanced general fund with limited new hires
Summary
Finance staff presented a proposed 2026 budget that balances the general fund by trimming department requests and building in a $430,000 personnel contingency. Key constraints include low property tax growth and inflation-driven cost pressures; the proposal delays some hires and adds a midyear EMS deputy chief.
Bill, the committee’s budget presenter, told the Finance and Personnel Committee that total 2026 general fund requests exceed estimated revenues by about $1.8 million and that the proposed plan adds roughly $524,000 in revenues and trims about $1.2 million in requests to present a balanced proposal. "Total expenditures, including all the department requests, came in at just under 28,000,000," he said.
The proposal assumes modest revenue growth from property-tax base expansion — net new construction of 1.45% projected to generate about $224,000 — but warned that inflation and wage pressures outpace…
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