Plain City Council and the Personal Finance Committee met in a joint work session to examine the proposed 2026 operating and capital budgets and related forecasts. Staff told the committee that Plain City’s 1.5% income tax is split between operations (1.0%) and capital (0.5%), and that recent revenue estimates have strengthened, with year‑over‑year growth shown from about $2.4 million in 2021 to nearly $3.0 million projected for 2025.

The Personal Finance Committee and staff discussed the city’s forecasting tool and asked for a range of scenarios rather than a single high‑end projection; staff said the tool currently produces several scenarios (3%, 5%, 7%, 9%) and agreed to add midpoint and upside runs for comparison. Staff cautioned that population growth and economic uncertainty make projections imprecise and asked the committees to avoid over‑reliance on any single forecast.

On expenditures, staff described continuing transfers from the 0.5% capital income‑tax portion to streets, facilities and infrastructure work and said the transfer to capital is estimated at about $2.1 million. Staff also said police transfers now represent roughly 28% of the general fund budget and that capital dollars will support projects including a Novan Road OWA loan and Shepherd and Commerce Road reconstruction, the latter noted as OPWC grant‑ and loan‑funded with Mid Ohio planning concurrent water‑line work.

Staff highlighted rising health‑care premiums and said final insurance rates should be available shortly; because of that increase, staff proposed moving from a 3% combined cost‑of‑living/merit adjustment to a 4% combined approach consisting of a 2% increase on Jan. 1 and an additional 2% tied to employee performance evaluations. Staff asked for committee guidance and said they would return with firm premium numbers before the first reading. Committee members generally said they were not opposed and asked staff to provide the final figures so the committee could weigh the tradeoffs.

The proposed staffing changes in the draft budget are modest: one new maintenance technician in Public Works and one midyear code‑enforcement officer. Staff said the maintenance addition responds to increased street, park and facility maintenance demand and to historically short staffing in those areas.

On reserves, staff said the proposed 2026 budget reduces the general fund balance compared with the current year but keeps it above the recommended minimum. Because income‑tax receipts have outperformed earlier estimates, staff said a supplemental appropriation before year‑end is possible to reflect stronger receipts.

Next steps: staff said they anticipate bringing the budget to a first reading on Monday, Nov. 10, if committees are amenable, and will provide finalized health‑care premium numbers to the committee before that reading. The committee asked staff to prepare multi‑scenario forecasts and recommended continuing the current approach to aligning expenditures with the community’s comprehensive‑plan goals.