BLOOMINGTON (25News Now) – Bloomington city leaders believe they can operate on $21 million less than the year before, but that’s proving to be a challenge.
Monday night, city staff provided the council with an update to the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, which currently comes in at nearly $311 million. It is a 6.4% decrease from the previous budget of $331.7 million, which marked the city’s largest budget in its history.
However, the proposed budget puts the city in a $5.7 million deficit. This is because the city council kept the 2025 tax levy flat, meaning homeowners are not contributing more money in property taxes even though property values are up…