Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Municipal Budget topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Finance director presents preliminary FY2026–27 budget; committee hears grant-driven revenue assumptions and insurance cost pressure
Summary
Finance Director John Duncan told the LaSalle Finance Committee that the city’s preliminary FY2026–27 budget assumes $1.2 million in grant revenue and a general fund reserve of about $1.1 million, but warned a recent health-insurance cost increase and timing of reimbursements could narrow reserves.
Finance Director John Duncan presented the Finance Committee with the preliminary fiscal-year 2026–27 budget and a packet of reconciliation and cash-allocation documents, saying the city’s multi-year reserves have dropped from a peak in 2023.
"You can see where those come down quite a bit," Duncan said as he reviewed a cash-allocation report that traces fund balances back to 2015 and shows the general fund projected at roughly $1,100,000 in reserves at the end of FY2026. He told aldermen the document helps answer whether the city has cash available to pursue proposed projects.
Duncan highlighted revenue assumptions in the general fund, including $1.2 million in grant income made up of an IDOT striping grant, a safe-routes grant, a $650,000 housing-rehab program and several smaller awards. "That is how we arrive at the $1,200,000 this year in grant funds," he said, adding that some grant revenue reflects work completed but not yet submitted for reimbursement.
He warned the committee that a sizable health-insurance increase that kicked in during January is responsible for much of the year-over-year cost growth across departments. "You'll see probably the vast majority of the percent increases in each fund are coming from the health-insurance increase," Duncan said.
Committee members asked for clarifications about specific lines, and Duncan said that most proposed expenditures will be brought back to the council for separate approval. He closed by reminding the committee that the packet is a working draft and that final appropriations will return at the council's next meeting.
The committee took no final votes on budget items at the session; members were invited to submit follow-up questions and to review the final packet before the council’s upcoming meeting.
