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City Council Regular Meeting Minutes <br />August 26, 2025 <br />Page 6 <br />o1 Upgrade of field lighting to LED - $500,000. <br />2 <br />3 Next Steps include: <br />4 September 9 – City Council Meeting – Staff will present the preliminary 2026 Budget <br />5 and Property Tax Levy to the City Council for approval. At this meeting, a resolution will <br />6 need to be passed certifying the preliminary levy to Hennepin and Ramsey Counties. <br />7 October 14 – Council Work Session – Staff will present the proposed 2026 updates to the <br />8 long-term capital budget plans. <br />9 October 28 – Council Work Session – Staff will present the proposed 2026 utility rate <br />10 adjustments and budgets. <br />11 October 28 – City Council Meeting – Staff will present the 2026 long-term capital <br />12 budgets as revised. The requested City Council action will be the approval of 2026 <br />13 capital levies and long-term plans. <br />14 December 9 – City Council Meeting – Final Presentation of 2026 Budget and Property <br />15 Tax Levy (Truth in Taxation) Hearing. Staff will present a recap of the final 2026 Budget <br />16 and the 026 Property Tax Levy’s impact on property tax bills. <br />17 <br />18 Ms. Maloney summarized City Council is requested to provide comments on the Draft 2026 <br />19 Preliminary Levy & General Fund Budget and discuss moving forward with fire staffing requests <br />20 and offsetting funding sources. Discussion on setting Preliminary Levy at $10,570,830 and an <br />21 increase of 9.18% at the September 9, 2025, meeting. This can be reduced before Final Levy <br />22 adoption in December and allows time for Council to further discuss the Fire Department <br />23 staffing request, long-term facility needs, and new parks amenities requests. <br />24 <br />25 Councilmember Randle stated he is not a fan of raising the levy, but it makes sense to set it high, <br />26 and it could be lowered in the future. He suggested using the TIF money that has been returned <br />27 for the firefighters. Mayor Webster stated in looking at the 3-4 year plan, would we be setting up <br />28 a future City Council for a large increase. Councilmember Randle suggested this is the best use <br />29 of those funds. He feels some of the items on the list are not necessities. <br />30 <br />31 Councilmember Doolan shared concerns about the size of the levy. She suggested looking at all <br />32 the levers possible to get the levy amount down to a more palatable figure. We need to do <br />33 something about the fire staff. She would like more information on the types of calls. She would <br />34 like to look at using the TIF money. There are conclusive needs right now. <br />35 <br />36 Councilmember Elnagdy agreed to set the levy high, knowing it can be reduced. We need more <br />37 firefighters to meet OSHA safety standards. It would be easy to eliminate the dog park and <br />38 pickleball, if not now, it could be later. <br />39 <br />40 Councilmember Jenson stated that we have no choice but to set the levy higher now. The levy <br />41 would not be sustainable year after year. Thinking long term, the TIF money could be used for <br />42 lighting upgrades, as they are lit year-round. He asked if we could wait for more TIF money to <br />43 come in before adding the additional 3 firefighters, and look at the breakdown of calls to the fire <br />44 department. The calls mirror the number of buildings that have been added. <br />45 <br />10