The Winnebago City council had a busy but productive night at their meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 9, hosting their Truth in Taxation hearing prior to passing the 2025 final tax levy as well as passing several other administrative items, ranging from the fee and rate schedule for 2026 to the meeting schedule for the city’s various committees.

City administrator Judi Hynes presented the council with an updated version of the 2026 budget worksheet, announcing that she had made progress on lowering the proposed final levy number.

“After our Special City Council meeting last week where we went through the budget line by line, I went back and made a few more revisions with the feedback I got from the council,” Hynes reported. “After running the numbers again, I was able to get the final levy number down to $1,080,293.80, or an increase of 9.95 percent. I was a little worried we might not be able to get the budget increase percentage below double digits, but I was pleasantly surprised.”

Hearing no further comments from the council, the Truth in Taxation hearing was opened for public comment.

“It’s a big job to cut down a budget, and I’m happy that the City Council has managed to get it down from the 12.92 percent that was originally proposed,” a community member shared. “However, you still need to consider the older folks living here who need to manage their own budgets. Everything’s getting more expensive for all of us.”

“I can assure you that there is no extra in our budget,” council member Paul Eisenmenger replied. “We cut it as close as we possibly could. I know that years ago the old City Council members could get the final tax levy down as low as 4 percent, but those old numbers won’t cut it anymore.”

Another community member mentioned that they appreciated the council getting the levy down, but wanted to know what costs had increased within the budget.

“A lot of things have gone up,” Hynes replied. “The loss of Greenfield Global was a huge loss of revenue for our city. We also have the new bond for the Cleveland Avenue West project, as well as wage increases across the board.”

Hearing no further questions from the public, the Truth in Taxation hearing was closed. Following this, a motion was made and seconded to pass Resolution 891-2025, setting the 2025 final tax levy at $1,080,293.80, which represents an increase of 9.95 percent from the previous year. The motion was passed unanimously.

Hynes presented the council with Resolution 889-2025, which would set the fees and rates for 2026.

“Everything has pretty much stayed the same between now and 2025, so I’d be looking for a motion to approve the rates and fees as listed,” Hynes explained.

“I think we could get away with raising the current rate for renting out the Municipal Center, since a lot of people use it,” council member Tony O’Donnell remarked. “I would suggest raising that rate to $100 per day.”

Several other council members objected to this idea, citing that it would be best to leave the fees alone for now, as so many other rates were going up in the coming year.

“We’ve raised basically everything else this year,” Eisenmenger countered. “Utility rates are up, our tax levy has gone up, I think we can leave these rates alone for now.”

Following discussion, a motion was made and seconded to approve the rates and fees for 2026 as-is. The motion was passed 3-1, with O’Donnell in dissent.

Hynes presented the council with Resolution 879-2025 to increase the utility rates for water, stormwater, and sewer beginning Jan. 2026.

“We discussed raising these rates at a previous meeting, so I decided to bring our findings to the Utility Committee and present them with a couple of options,” Hynes shared. “They were in favor of the second option I presented to them, which would raise the rates for the per thousand gallons usage for sewer, rather than increasing the base fee like we initially proposed.”

Hearing no further discussion, a motion was made and seconded to approve Resolution 879-2025 with the second option. The motion was passed unanimously.

Following this, three separate motions were made and seconded to approve the water, sewer, and stormwater fund budgets for 2026, with an amendment made to the sewer fund budget to account for the changes made in Resolution 879-2025. All three motions were passed unanimously.

Other business discussed at the City Council meeting included:

• A step-pay increase for Corinna McGinnis to Step 3 of the union pay scale was unanimously approved. This pay raise will go into effect on Dec. 14, 2025.

• Fiscal agent renewals for the Winnebago Veteran’s Memorial Group, Freedom Rock Committee, Winnebago Area Musical Players, and Winnebago Kid’s Fund were all unanimously approved.

• A quote from DSG for a new check valve for Well No. 2 in the amount of $2,183.67 was unanimously approved.

• Resolution 890-2025 approving a transfer of funds in the amount of $45,000 from the 890 Ambulance Fund to the 401 Ambulance Capital Fund for the purchase of a new ambulance was passed unanimously.

• The 2026 City Council meeting schedule, council appointments, committee assignments, and committee meeting schedules were all unanimously approved. O’Donnell will be taking Eisenmenger’s spot on the EDA, while Eisenmenger will be filling O’Donnell’s spot on the Community Trust Fund and Improvement committee.

• The list of 2026 fire officers for the Winnebago Fire Department was unanimously approved. Brandon Hassing will be replacing Bret Osborn as Chief, and Travis Bach will be replacing Hassing as Training Officer.

• A deferred assessment application from Beverly Alfson for her property at 25 Second Street Southwest in Winnebago was unanimously approved.

• A quote from Bevcomm for a three-year renewal of the WatchGuard Total Security Suite in the amount of $8,527.41 was unanimously approved.