CHAMPAIGN — Champaign City Council adopted its annual budget for the 2026-2027 Fiscal Year on Tuesday night.
Mayor Deb Feinen thanked the city staff for the hard work they put in to create the budget.
“And although it sort of comes with no fanfair, it’s a really big deal,” she said. “We have amazing staff that’s gotten us here, and we are in great fiscal shape because of that good stewardship, so thank you all.”
Council goals determined the spending priorities. This ensures that the city is planning for both short-term and long-term growth and prosperity for the community.
The 2025-2027 goals and key projects include increasing police services downtown, identifying a youth program to encourage civic engagement, implementing mental health emergency response and continuing to focus on street outreach and youth programming under the Community Gun Violence Reduction Blueprint.
The city of Champaign follows the state of Illinois’ fiscal year, which starts July 1 and ends June 30 the following year.
Capital infrastructure improvements
For the upcoming fiscal year, the city’s expenditures are $254 million. It’s expected to receive $225 million in revenues. Expenditures are higher due to large capital projects.
These large capital projects are funded in large chunks, and the city pays for the project on a “pay-as-you-go” system. This means that when a project is started, the city has already allocated all of the money that will go towards the project.
One-time capital infrastructure improvements include $2.5 million for reconstuction of Park Avenue, $1.25 million for a Public Works storage facility, and $825,000 for traffic signals at the intersection of Mattis Avenue and Sangamon Drive.
New job positions to fill
One-time and recurring expenditures for this upcoming fiscal year include several new positions.
This includes a three-year Homeless and Community Services Manager position, a two-year Management Analyst position, an Impact Outreach Worker, and a Payroll Manager.
The Champaign Fire Department will hire three new firefighters, as well as a community engagement coordinator, an emergency management coordinator, and a finance technician.
The city also aims to hire a Human Resources Technician, an additional city attorney, a technical position for neighborhood services, an economic development specialist, an economic development technician, and four yard waste management workers.
Champaign police department allocations
The Champaign Police Department will receive several allocations to cover positions, including a Digital Forensic Supervisor, a Professional Standards Sergeant, another office worker, and a Background Investigator.
The department will also receive a bomb disposal unit trailer, wellness support and mobile surveillance video trailers.
Other resolutions
The budget was just one of the council bills that passed on Tuesday.
Among others, the city passed an ordinance to amend its bike share agreement to allow bike share companies to operate in Champaign.
Looking towards the future
In the proposed budget, the city recognized that the U.S. economy is facing a “slow-growth” market due to higher import prices, a cooling labor market and an increase in gas prices. This means that the remainder of 2026 faces high economic uncertainty. The city may need to seek additional funding to cover increasing costs.
These additional funding expenditures include anticipated health insurance increases, economic development needs, housing and homeless services needs, and a backlog of infrastructure maintenance and city facility needs.
The city also recognizes that financial projections show the city’s ability to fund new initiatives may decrease significantly in the years to come.