The City Finance Committee met at City Hall and reviewed a proposed 2026 spending plan that city staff say meets the state levy limit and expenditure restraint requirements while using one-time revenues, mandated vacancies and new user fees to close a near-term gap. Mary Anne, a city staff member who presented the document, said the levy in the book is set at about $38,000,001, an increase of $738,946 (roughly 1.98%).

The budget meets the two legal constraints that govern property tax and spending growth. "This budget meets both of those requirements," Mary Anne said, referring to the levy-limit and expenditure-restraint tests that limit tax rate and allowable spending increases. She told the committee city staff used a mix of measures — mandated hiring freezes, targeted one-time cuts and modest revenue changes — to produce a balanced proposal.

Why it matters: the levy and expenditure-restraint rules determine how much property-tax revenue the city can raise and whether additional spending must be offset by reductions elsewhere. The committee was presented with staffing and program choices that close the 2026 gap but include many one-time steps that staff warned may not be sustainable into 2027.

City officials built several assumptions and constraints into the plan. The budget includes a 3 percent cost-of-living increase for non-represented employees, a 4 percent raise for public-safety staff under contract, a 1.5 percent increase for transit, and a 9.5 percent projected increase in health-insurance costs. A vacancy allowance of $300,000 remains in the plan. To limit ongoing expense growth, staff mandated that a number of currently open or soon-to-open positions stay vacant all year; examples discussed included a half-time FTE in police, held assistant city attorney positions, finance accounting hours, a city surveyor position, park administrative coordinator hours, a vacant fire division chief, and an analyst position in technology.

Staff described program and service changes intended to lower costs. Departments proposed cuts to training budgets and tuition reimbursement, elimination or deferral of certain software subscriptions, energy-efficiency measures already producing savings, reduced supplies, deferred vehicle and equipment replacements, and scaled-back pool operations. "Shutting one pool down completely and only opening two would be about a $60,000 savings," a parks representative told the committee; rotating two pools open per day is budgeted to save about $30,000 while keeping all three pools in service on a rotating schedule.

The plan also includes several new or changed user fees: a pet-license program, an alley-clearing charge like the mowing fee, updated EMS transport rates, a police lockout fee, inspection and license adjustments, a special-assessment exam fee, and weights-and-measures fees. Staff reported the $1-per-ticket special-events surcharge generated roughly $25,000–$30,000 in receipts but cost about $100,000 to administer, a shortfall they described as evidence that the surcharge does not fully cover event costs.

The committee heard that many of the measures in the 2026 plan are one-time solutions. Mary Anne and the mayor both emphasized the committee will need a longer-term approach for 2027 when several grant-funded positions and ARPA/SAFER-related revenues expire. Staff recommended continued review at future finance meetings and noted the budget is now in a form that "in theory" could be sent to public hearing.

Next steps: staff expect to bring the budget to a public hearing in November and return with department-level presentations for committee review. The committee did not adopt the budget at this meeting.