The Town of Normal will find it more difficult to balance the budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, but the town has options at its disposal.
Town finance director Andrew Huhn outlined highlights of the proposed $211 million budget during a work session before Monday’s council meeting. The budget would mark a 5% reduction from the current budget of $223 million, due to a drop in revenue.
“We're telling you our concerns about sales tax, where we're at, our concerns with revenue being very transparent, but also ... we're not in panic mode,” said city manager Pam Reece. “We're in a position where we can still present to you a budget that is meeting our financial targets, and I think that's something that we're very proud of for sure.”
Huhn said the problem will mostly be solved through budget cuts, but Normal also will rely on some excess reserves. Reserves provide budget flexibility and often are used for one-time projects or capital needs, but in this case Huhn said they will be used to smooth out the budget process.
Areas seeing cuts include parks and recreation facilities, some road work and extra payments for pensions.
Credit rating
Huhn also addressed Normal’s credit rating downgrade that went from AAA to AA. He the town is just as fiscally strong as before, but the criteria changed.
He also speculated the surrounding region may not have helped the rating.
“If we were in a Chicago suburb, we would probably, no problem, because there's this massive economy around us that they can insulate us. We do have some insulation here between Bloomington and Normal because we're sizable for downstate. But according to the rating agency, they didn't feel that was legitimate enough to support that.”
Outlook
Huhn concluded by saying the true result of the budget for the year depends on the way the national economy unfolds.
“What I'm hearing and reading is that, you know, inflation, obviously, is significantly down from its peak,” said Huhn. “However, there is some thought that it might bump up a little bit more in 2025 due to some whatever possible policy changes are made, mostly with tariffs and so forth.”
Town council meeting
The council also unanimously approved a purchase agreement for a new $92,339 laser projection system for the Normal Theater, providing sharper images for the audience.
And, the council also approved the final plat for the Akanksha subdivision.
