It’s that time of year, folks—the budget discussions have begun! The City of Batavia has released its proposed Fiscal Year 2026 Budget.
This proposal includes increases to both taxes and fees, which the City attributes to the need to fund infrastructure upgrades, address rising operational costs due to inflation, and maintain the high level of public safety and municipal services residents are accustomed to.
These proposed increases come after years of leveraging reserves and curtailed staffing to minimize any required tax increases. Unfortunately, projects and required upgrades have piled up over the years as a result.
The first public meeting on this will be next Tuesday November 4th at 7 PM at city hall. Also, there is an interactive portal for the public to review the budget, located here: https://city-batavia-il-budget-book.cleargov.com/20917/budget-overview/executive-overview
Proposed Tax & Fee Increases
The budget proposes increases to property taxes, sales tax, and utility rates to address rising operational costs and fund new investments.
Property Tax (City Portion)
- Increase: A 10-cent increase in the City’s property tax rate for 2026, raising it from $0.76 to $0.86 per $100 of equalized assessed valuation (EAV). A second 10-cent increase is also planned for 2027.
- Impact: For a $400,000 home, the 2026 increase is about $125 per year.
- Justification: To continue providing high-quality services amid rising costs. The City notes that even with this increase, Batavia’s rate remains close to the average for similar-sized Chicago-area municipalities.
Home-Rule Sales Tax
- Increase: A 0.5% increase in the local home-rule sales tax.
- Justification: To begin building financial reserves for a future Police Department facility. This approach is intended to reduce the need for borrowing and future debt costs for the project.
Electric Utility Rate
- Increase: A 3% rate increase beginning Jan. 1, 2026 (the first since 2015), plus modest base charge adjustments.
- Justification: To fund system reliability improvements, including the issuance of $5 million in bonds. The department is working to move more power lines underground to protect the system from severe storms, which improves reliability but adds cost.
Water Utility Rate
- Increase: A 3% rate increase and a new monthly capital fee ($3.75 for residential, $7.50 for commercial).
- Justification: To fund infrastructure upgrades.
Sewer Utility Rate
- Increase: An 8% rate increase, which includes the new capital charge structure.
- Justification: To repay debt from a multi-year project that replaces end-of-life equipment and upgrades treatment processes to meet new regulatory standards.
Objectives for Public Services & Infrastructure
The budget’s investments are guided by the City’s 2024-2028 Strategic Action Plan and aim to maintain and improve services.
Public Safety
- Staffing: The budget adds two new police officers to improve community engagement and traffic enforcement. It also adds two new firefighters to support the department’s transition to an Advanced Life Support (ALS) Squad for emergency medical response, which handles most of the city’s calls.
- Facilities: A key objective is to plan for a future Police Department facility based on a 2024 space-needs analysis. The proposed sales tax increase is the funding mechanism for this project.
Infrastructure
- Electric: The primary goal is improving system reliability. A key strategy for this is moving power lines underground to make the system more resilient against severe storms.
- Water: The objective is to fund infrastructure upgrades through the new rate structure.
- Sewer: The goal is to repay debt from a major project to replace aging equipment and meet updated regulatory standards.
Public Meeting
The Batavia City Council will hold its first budget review meeting on Tuesday, Nov. 4, at 7 p.m. at City Hall.
Author: Jim Fahrenbach
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