Lincoln’s proposed two-year city budget would increase spending on public safety, streets, utilities and other city services while maintaining the city’s current property-tax rate. About 40 people addressed the Lincoln City Council during a public hearing Monday.
The tax-funded portion of the budget totals slightly more than $316 million for the 2026-27 fiscal year, an increase of 4.6%. It would grow to more than $334 million in 2027-28, an additional increase of 5.7%.
Mayor’s Office Budget Manager Jon Carlson said public safety would continue to account for the majority of tax-supported spending. “Fifty-seven percent in year one is going to public safety, police, fire and the combined police and fire pension,” Carlson said. “In the second year, that number rises to 58%.”
The budget would provide local funding for 18 firefighters and firefighter-paramedics and seven police officers whose federal grant support is ending. It also proposes using another federal grant to add four police officers during the second budget year.
A large contingent urged the council to provide $150,000 in one-time gap funding to complete the restoration of Meadowlane Pool. The neighborhood pool has been closed for three summers after state-required repairs were identified.
Supporters said the facility has since become a nonprofit that would be open to the public and supported through memberships, daily admissions, swimming lessons, concessions, grants and charitable contributions.
Meadowlane Park Association Treasurer Shannon Castillo said the pool’s previous closure was caused by accumulated capital needs, not an inability to cover ordinary operating expenses. “The reason the pool closed was not because it couldn’t pay its bills,” Castillo said. “It closed because decades of deferred capital maintenance eventually reached a point where the state was requiring major repairs before the pool could reopen.”
Castillo said the association plans to establish annual reserves for future repairs and diversify its revenue so the pool will not require ongoing city assistance. Councilman Tom Duden expressed reservations about providing taxpayer funding to a privately operated pool while Lincoln is struggling to maintain its public pools.
The council unanimously closed the public hearing and delayed final action on the budget until August 24. Lincoln’s new fiscal year begins September 1.