FY26 Proposed Budget

Public Facilities

The FY 2026 budget maintains an aggressive investment in public facilities to support short and long-term service delivery. New, expanded or renovated facilities that are funded in the plan include the Senior Center, transit building, equipment building, wastewater digester complex, landfill compost facility, Animal Shelter training annex, City Park pool and more. Public facilities projects are supported in part by the Facility Reserve Fund, which built up financial capacity over the last several years. However, no FY 2026 transfer is planned for the Facility Reserve Fund, which is now expected to completely draw its fund balance down to support the construction of City Park Pool. The goal is to replenish the Facility Reserve Fund in the future if that becomes possible due to unanticipated surpluses, though that seems unlikely in the short-term given current fiscal challenges. This will place more pressure on debt as the primary funding source for public facilities in the foreseeable future. In addition, this budget continues to address anticipated public facility needs as the community and demand for services grow. The City is evaluating possible sites outside of City Hall for the relocation of Fire Station #1. Similarly, there is close coordination with the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office on studying whether a joint facility will be an effective solution to meet the need for a new police station. Finally, the City is considering alternatives to accommodate employee space needs at City Hall. This may include purchasing or leasing space off-site as a stopgap measure to provide more suitable work environments for staff until a more comprehensive solution is achievable. The macroeconomic headwinds and continued State mandated property tax reform significantly limits the City’s ability to add personnel with the FY 2026 budget. However, this budget does introduce two new positions which support the quality provision of core services. This includes a new mechanic position in the Equipment division and new maintenance worker in the Water division to ensure the maintenance demands of our City equipment and infrastructure are met. These positions relate directly to the City’s Strategic Plan by keeping core services operating. However, many other operations are also in need of additional resources to support our growing community. The City must keep core staffing and resource needs in sight as those investments will be needed if and when budgetary resources allow. Additionally, we are fortunate to add additional positions which are only made possible due to the support of grant funding, including federal funding to our Housing Authority. These include the new housing program assistant added in the FY 2025 budget, and two positions funded through the PRO Housing grant awarded to the City in 2024: a senior housing developer and housing counselor. Both positions are necessary to further the City’s affordable housing goals in the Strategic Plan but will need to generate revenue to continue after grant funds are expended. Personnel

Supporting Master Plans

This budget provides funding to support continued implementation of various City Master Plans. Over $31 million in the five-year Capital Improvement Program is budgeted for parks and

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