MONROE — The City of Monroe is eyeing a 2027 general fund budget that includes a slight levy increase, during a year in which it’s anticipated revenue will jump by 6.39% compared to the prior year’s budget.

That’s according to city officials and budget documents.

“The 2027 Budget for the General Fund is balanced at $14.3 million in revenues and expenditures,” said City Administrator Brittney Rindy, via email. “That is a 6.82% increase overall from 2026. When you remove debt service from the equation, that is only a .93% increase.”

The increase is attributable to underperformance by TID 12 — meaning, the area the fund includes did not generate enough increment to cover the debt service.

That’s an area targeted for development that includes part of the industrial park, and land around the new high school and the area known as Richland Heights.

What is the city spending its money on? Roads and infrastructure — funded all or in part on bond issues, mostly, according to Rindy. And on keeping municipal services at current levels, despite continued inflation.

Sound familiar? It does to taxpayers everywhere — U.S. headline inflation accelerated to 3.7% year-over-year in September 2026, up from 3.4% in August, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Consumer prices rose 0.6% in September alone — significantly higher than economists anticipated.

Soaring gas and diesel prices continue to blow holes in family, government, farm and corporate budgets.

“Municipalities continue to be under constraint of the levy limit not keeping up with inflation,” she said. “The Debt Service component is growing faster than years past due to our need to cover nearly all capital projects through debt service now. When combining all funds, the total expenditures are $33,449,086 and total revenues are $29,120,097.”

The property tax levy, she added, is set at $9,180,798 — compared to $8,3492,261 in 2026.

“As mentioned, the biggest contributor to this increase is debt service equaling $807,913 of that,” she added.

As for TID 12, the reported underperformance of the fund is attributable to the fact that the area around the high school has only now been fully developed, and that it takes time to see the value of such taxing districts. And it’s only been on the books for about a year.

“It’s just a new TID, it takes a while to get going,” she said.

Rindy said the city remains strong financially as the 2027 budget process gets underway and the budget moves to full Common Council consideration, with a public hearing likely to be set for October 19.

“The levy is not keeping up with inflation, that is something we will have to be looking at,” in future budget years, she said.

The Budget Process:

● October 19 — Council meeting will set a Public Hearing for November 16

● November 16 — Hold the Public Hearing and Seek Final Approval (Requires 2/3 Council approval)

● Prepare for long-term budget and service prioritization workshops in early 2028 in preparation for anticipated challenging 2028 Budget discussions

● Discuss revenue opportunities and the appropriate level of cost recovery for services

● Review service priorities and areas where spending could be adjusted, if necessary.