Appleton Common Council Special Session Adopts 2026 Budget – November 12, 2025
Appleton Common Council Special Session: Adoption of 2026 Executive Budget and Service Plan
This special meeting of the Appleton Common Council was held on November 12, 2025, to adopt the 2026 executive budget and service plan. The meeting began with the Pledge of Allegiance and roll call, with 14 aldermen present (one excused) and all department heads represented. No public comments were made. The council suspended its rules to enter committee of the whole, approved minutes from the budget workshop including an administrative amendment, received a committee report, and voted on the final budget resolution, which was adopted after a procedural reconsideration vote failed.
Consent Calendar
- Approved the finance committee budget workshop minutes as amended (motion passed 14-0).
- Approved the report of the committee of the whole (motion passed 14-0).
The council also approved an amendment to the workshop minutes (Item 25-1360) as an administrative change, removing and reallocating funds among mayor salaries and fringes across several pages.
Public Comments & Testimony
No members of the public were signed up to speak, and no one offered comments on agenda items.
Discussion Items
Budget Workshop Minutes Amendment (25-1360): Finance Chair Brad Furkas presented an amendment that was described as clerical and administrative, not fundamental to the budget. It adjusted allocations between general mission contracts, mayor regular salaries, and mayor fringe benefits across three pages. The amendment was adopted unanimously.
2026 Budget Resolution (25-1390): Director Omen read the resolution aloud, which outlined:
- A levy of $39,932,984 on taxable property for general fund purposes.
- A levy of $2,092,000 on taxable property for special revenue funds.
- Authorization to sell up to $11,433,980 in general obligation promissory notes or bonds.
- Authorization to sell up to $14,500,000 in water, sewer, or stormwater revenue-supported bonds.
- A provision that projects cannot proceed until non-tax funding sources are committed.
The mayor explained that a motion to approve (reconsider) the budget, if passed, would open the budget for further changes; a nay vote would close reconsideration and lock the budget. The motion was not debatable.
Key Outcomes
- The council voted 14-0 to approve the amendment to the budget workshop minutes.
- The council voted 14-0 to approve the report of the committee of the whole, which included the amended minutes.
- On the budget resolution, the procedural motion to reconsider (approve) failed, effectively adopting the budget as presented. The exact vote tally was not stated in the transcript but the motion was described as failing (the mayor said "that motion fails").
- The meeting adjourned after closing remarks and a birthday recognition for Director Dean Gaza.
Meeting Transcript
Good evening. I now call to order this special session for the adoption of the 2026 executive budget and service plan. Right. Please rise and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic, for which it stands one nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice. Roll call of Alders. All are represented with the exception of Alder Person Doherty, who is excused. All right. Roll call of officers and department heads. All are represented. All right. I have no business to present to you this evening. And we have no members of the public signed up to speak for public participation. Is there anybody who'd like to speak on an item that appears on the agenda? None will close public participation. I'll come now to establishing the order of the day. And uh first uh order of business will be 25-1386, uh, which is approved the finance committee budget workshop minutes, but uh we're going to move along here to 25-1387. Uh suspend the rules of council, suspend the council rules and go into committee of the whole, acting as the finance committee to take up the finance committee budget workshop minutes. Do we have a motion? We have a motion and a second. All right. All those in favor, uh, cast your votes. I was chairing plan commission earlier, so I was still in that mode. Uh please cast your votes. Oh wow. Cloak of secrecy. All right. Uh that motion passes uh 14 to 0. Uh motion's been approved. So we have suspended the rules and uh we're on to committee reports. At this point, I'm gonna invite finance chair Brad Furkas to come up and take over. You have your stuff. Thank you. All right. All right, good evening, everyone. We'll get right to it. So I will entertain a motion on the minutes from the budget Saturday workshop. All right, we do have our motion and our second. So with that, uh, we'll look to proposed minute or sorry, proposed amendments to discuss and debate. So looking at the agenda here, we do have one amendment that is already present. That is 25-1360, remove $699 from general mission, other contracts obligations, page 79, add $2,725 to mayor regular salaries, page 49. Remove 2,000, sorry, $6,203 from Mayor Fringes, page 49, add $8,712 to mayor regular salaries, page 51. Remove $2,672 from mayor fringes, page 51. Add $680 to mayor regular salaries, page 53. Remove $2,543 from Mayor Fringes, page 53 administrative change. All right, so we have a motion, we have a second. So in summary, these are basically clerical administrative changes. These are not necessarily fundamental changes to the budget itself, just so everyone's clear whether you are participating or just watching from afar. So with that, are there any questions or comments on the amendment?
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