property tax levy

The Personnel and Finance Committee reviewed a proposed 2026 debt-service budget that would increase the levy by $35,065, or 1.37%, from 2025; general-obligation debt principal and interest payments were projected to rise by $46,953.

The Personnel and Finance Committee reviewed 2026 budget materials showing an approximately $60,000 General Fund gap still to be closed through cuts and/or additional revenue.

The committee voted to recommend moving concession-stand income from the Special Events Fund into the General Fund.

The committee reviewed $3,388,000 in capital projects, including $2,176,318 supported by property taxes.

The committee discussed a proposed 2025 property tax levy for the 2026 budget but made no recommendation because the General Fund budget was not yet balanced.

The Personnel and Finance Committee recommended the 2026 budget and a proposed 4.05% property tax levy increase by a 2-0 vote, with requested changes to restore $2,000 for cemetery flowers, remove a proposed 2% library levy increase, and seek $5,000 more from room tax funds.

City Council held the required public hearing on the proposed 2026 city budget.

Council discussed a draft 2026 budget of about $42 million with a proposed 3.8% levy increase and one-time balancing items including land sales, a debt premium, and a cell-tower payment; no final decisions were made during that discussion.

Council adopted the 2026 Business Improvement District assessment rate of $1.77 per $1,000 of assessed value by a 9-0 vote.

Council approved 2026 funding for the cemetery perpetual-care flowers program by a 9-0 vote.

Council adopted the 2026 city tax levy of $5,745,073, a $223,712 increase of 4.05%, by a 7-2 vote.

Council authorized use of all allowable unused levy capacity from the prior year for the 2026 budget by a 9-0 vote.

Council adopted the full 2026 city budget, totaling $41.7 million in appropriations, by a 9-0 vote.

Council approved borrowing up to $2.565 million for 2026 capital projects by an 8-1 vote, including $2.215 million supported by the property tax levy and $350,000 supported by the Electric Utility.

The borrowing plan included $255,000 for the Neshotah Beach concessions project; the city stated that listing the project in the borrowing plan did not require the project to proceed.

Council approved a resolution, 5-4, directing tax bills to include a separate line showing the portion of the Two Rivers school levy used to replace state aid withheld for private-school voucher payments. The resolution cited $1,067,225.50 for the 2025-26 school year.

The Sept. 8 resolution was moved by Derby and seconded by D. LeClair. Bittner, Brandt, Derby, D. LeClair, and Stechmesser voted yes; Dahlke, B. LeClair, Petri, and Wachowski voted no.

Council discussion clarified that the new tax-bill line will show a districtwide amount rather than an amount calculated for each property owner.