Bloomington's 2026 Priorities Based Budget

On Wednesday, October 8th, the Bloomington City Council voted to pass the $163 million budget for 2026. This decision had two dissenters: Councilmembers Flaherty and Rosenbarger due to lack of trust in the mayor’s administration. The $163m budget increased from $147m last year, mostly due to the $12m in anticipated revenue from the Food and Beverage Tax.  
There were some notable changes and appropriations to the budget, including:  

• General Fund expected expenditures are $65m, $27.5m from adopted tax levy.
• 2.7% Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) for staff not under the collective bargaining agreement. ​
• $5m in unspecified cuts.
• $11m expected reserve drawdown, basically taking $11m from savings which has been a trend in the past two years. 
• Salaries and wage expenses moved from being appropriated from the General Fund to now the Economic Development and Local Income Tax (ED LIT) fund.
• Parks and Recreation fund moved to General Fund.
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The city has done less with less by imposing a hiring freeze, diversifying their revenues, and overall being creative. Designing and agreeing on the city’s 2026 budget was no small feat. However, they will have to do more.  SEA 1 is already showing fiscal drawbacks, as the city is working with $1.4m less than they would have for 2026. The city has about $414m in outstanding debt, including interest, according to City Controller McClellan. The city is also operating in a deficit and by the end of next year, will have spent $30m more than it collected. 
 
Comparing past spending, the city had projected deficit spending in the last 5 budget years but ended in fiscal surplus. While the city track record shows resilience, they have not treated the city’s deficit like the vulnerability it is. The city needs to prioritize lowering the deficit, but this will be much harder to do with SEA1's implications. To do so, they will need to cut personnel to get the outcome-based budgeting this Mayoral administration is looking for. It is fiscally necessary to make the cuts that will hamper progress the least, and that will likely translate to putting new hires on the chopping block.  
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Serious reductions need to be made for the city to continue healthy fiscal standing.  

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