FY27 Proposed Budget

Bond Rating The City obtains its General Obligation bond rating from Moody’s Investors Service each time a new bond is issued. The City’s current bond rating is Aaa. Maintaining the City’s Aaa bond is a priority for the City. Fund Balance: The estimated ending fund balance for fiscal year 2026 revised is projected to be $7,108,878 which is a decrease of $506,200 or 6.6%. The projected fund balance decrease is primarily due the intentional use of Debt Service Fund cash balance to make debt service payments in order to begin a strategy to reduce fund balance in this fund. Ending fund balance for fiscal year 2027 is estimated to be $3,223,078 which is a decrease of $3,885,800 or 54.7% from fiscal year 2026. This decrease is primarily from principal and interest payments that are being repaid from fund balance to reduce the fund balance.

Long-term Projections:

The debt service levy rate increased for fiscal year 2027 and is projected to stay flat over the following four years, while property valuations are projected to increase approximately 3% each year. Future debt service expenditures are expected to start to increase in fiscal year 2026 due to an increase in amount of bonds issued. This will cause the debt service expenditures to rise over the coming years. Little taxable growth for fiscal year 2026 in the property tax revenues and continued state property tax legislation has started to create a slight imbalance in projected revenues and expenditures which may have to be corrected if property tax revenue growth does not change.

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