Delaware City finance staff presented the 2026 budget introduction Nov. 3 and emphasized aligning the draft spending plan with the city's strategic goals adopted in May. Staff described five strategic action areas'strengthening fiscal sustainability, growing the local economy, regional collaboration, fostering connectivity and vibrancy, and implementing the strategic plan'and said the 2026 budget will focus spending and reserves toward those objectives.

Revenue and expenditure highlights: staff said citywide income-tax collections continue to trend upward and that property-tax revenue shows modest growth. License and permit receipts are forecast to be flat or down and engineering-fee revenue is trending lower. Staff noted an accounting recognition related to a prior-year self-insurance advance (approximately $1.5 million recognized once stop-loss reimbursement was received) that affects year-over-year comparisons. To address health-plan volatility, staff described a decision to join a stop-loss consortium that provides a fixed premium per employee and a trust mechanism; staff cited a late-year $1.8 million claims spike in the prior year as one rationale for the change.

Staff also proposed increasing the transfer to the economic-development reserve to about $250,000 (up from a long-standing annual $75,000 allocation to a separate reserve) to support site-preparation and employer recruitment efforts. On parks and recreation, staff proposed creating a Parks Capital Fund and discussed a potential year-end transfer of $1 million from the recreation-levy excess to seed that fund while maintaining commitments (for example, a proposed splash pad for the YMCA recreation center).

Parking and connectivity: the draft budget includes a $50,000 placeholder for pay-station hardware so that users who do not use smartphones can still pay for parking; staff also recommended budgeting toward a dedicated parking professional position to manage pay stations, wayfinding, signage and revenue optimization after the modernization study is complete.

Legislation to watch: staff flagged House Bill 503 (municipal income-tax credit) as a key risk that could remove local control over tax credits and reduce revenue if adopted as drafted. Staff also noted proposed increases in employer pension contributions (an example cited was a potential increase in police pension employer rates toward 24%), which would raise labor costs for the city if enacted.

Why it matters: the budget sets priorities for organizational capacity (including personnel requests and space needs) and capital planning, while identifying major fiscal risks from health-plan claims volatility and pending state legislation. Staff said they are taking a conservative budgeting approach because of uncertainty on the legislative and economic fronts.

Next steps: staff will provide more detailed departmental budgets in subsequent committee hearings and will attach the budget-gauge referenced in the policy presentation to the formal policy transmittal to council.