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Cherry Valley approves budget amendment for 2025, pauses final vote on 2026 budget and backs refinancing for fire truck
Summary
Council approved an amendment to the 2025 budget, discussed the 2026 budget (including a proposed 2.8% staff raise) but deferred the final vote pending executive session; council also supported pursuing refinancing a $42,000 fire-truck loan to lower interest costs.
The Cherry Valley City Council approved a resolution amending its 2025 budget and discussed the proposed 2026 budget, including a 2.8% pay increase proposed by the mayor for several staff members, but paused the final vote and asked to move into executive session before adopting the 2026 fiscal-year budget.
Stacy (city finance/staff) presented Resolution 1 of 2026 to amend the 2025 budget, noting no line-item overspending and that FEMA receipts received in 2025 needed to be allocated to 2026 expenditures. The council moved to approve the amendment and the mayor called for the ayes.
On the 2026 budget, Stacy outlined revenue adjustments and line items, and reported the mayor’s proposal for a 2.8% raise for several city staff including Jamie Walls, Stacy Bennett, Sid Pinley and Noah Pinley. Before the council completed a final vote on the 2026 budget, Mayor Dennis Stevens asked to go into executive session; the vote was therefore deferred.
Separately, council reviewed options for an out-of-service rescue unit and a plan to refinance an existing fire-truck note. Officials reported a roughly $42,000 outstanding balance on the truck loan at about 8.5% interest and discussed refinancing to roughly 4.5% with Cross County Bank to reduce interest costs and shorten the payoff period to about 3.8 years. The mayor and staff proposed applying available Act 833 funds (approximately $10,000–$15,000, depending on final accounting) plus the budgeted truck payment toward principal as part of the refinancing plan; the motion to pursue refinancing and apply those funds was seconded and the chair called for the ayes.
Council also discussed training and retention for volunteer firefighters, with the fire chief urging stricter compliance to meet structure-fire training requirements used in ISO ratings. The council asked the governing body of the fire department to bring back firm recommendations to improve attendance and certification completion.
What’s next: Staff will initiate refinancing paperwork and report back with loan terms. The council will return from executive session and reconvene to finalize a vote on the 2026 budget.
Attributions: Quotes and descriptions in this article come from council remarks and staff presentations during the January meeting; formal votes, where recorded in the transcript, are described as approved or deferred as presented.
