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Aurora finance committee outlines 2026 budget, flags $3.3M deficit including carryovers
Summary
CFO Stacy Peterson presented a proposed 2026 budget with expenditures of about $687.9 million and revenues of about $541.1 million; after carryovers and late changes the general-fund deficit was shown as about $3.33 million and staff proposed targeted transfers and internal adjustments to address shortfalls in insurance and benefits funds.
Stacy Peterson, Aurora’s chief financial officer, told the Committee of the Whole on Dec. 2 that the proposed 2026 budget anticipates $687.9 million in expenditures, $541.1 million in revenue and roughly $75.7 million in carryovers. The finance chair said a surplus of about $326,000 existed before carryovers but adding late changes and carryovers produced a roughly $3.33 million general-fund deficit.
Peterson outlined three principal functions of the property-tax levy — general city operations, pension costs and debt service — and said the 2025 levy (billed in 2026) includes larger debt-service requirements tied to capital projects. She noted anticipated debt‑service increases to fund public works facility upgrades, River’s Edge Park work and fire-station projects.
Council members asked detailed questions about internal-service funds and reserves. Peterson said the property-and-casualty fund faces roughly a $1 million deficit on current-year numbers and the compensated-benefits fund has a roughly $636,000 shortfall; staff proposed internal transfers (for example, moving money between employee health insurance and liability funds) to eliminate negative balances and achieve modest target balances in those funds.
Staff also briefed the council on projected additional gaming tax revenue (presented by operations staff as an incremental $3 million), with $2 million proposed to transfer to the general fund and $1 million retained in the gaming fund for potential obligations. Peterson said the budget process included reductions that will remove roughly 130.5 positions overall (vacant positions and attrition), and the council discussed restoring high-priority public‑safety items if revenue permits.
Next steps: public hearing on the budget is scheduled for Dec. 9 and the tax-levy consideration is scheduled for Dec. 16. Staff agreed to provide aldermen with the late-change schedule and requested backup materials, and to supply more detail on savings from voluntary separation/attrition programs requested by council members.
Provenance: Budget presentation and Q&A run across a continuous block of the transcript beginning with the finance committee report and Stacy Peterson’s presentation (SEG 1800–SEG 2411) and detailed Q&A on reserves and internal-services funds (SEG 2412–SEG 3141).
