Troy's 2026 Budget Gets Committee Approval
Vol. III, No. 179 - Property Tax Rollback Also Gets Go Ahead From Committee
Thank you Friends!
Throughout November, this publication is giving our readers an opportunity where our readers can support local food pantries. Every dollar received from our “Buy Me a Coffee” Page will be given to New Path Food Pantries.
We started November with a modest goal to raise $750 and thanks to the response, our goal was changed to $2,500. Our Campaign has met it’s goal and has raised $2,600!
But, we still have more than a week here in November and we aren’t stopping now!
Do you want to be part of this effort, along with over 60 other donors to help support our efforts? You can by making a donation here:
Troy’s 2026 budget is built to hold steady in a slow-growth year while the city signals cautious support for the County Budget Commission’s push for property tax relief through inside millage rollbacks. City leaders are trying to balance pressure to ease tax bills with the reality of several large projects that will draw down reserves over the next five years.
City staff told the Parks and Recreation Committee on Monday night that income tax collections in 2026 are expected to be essentially flat compared with 2025, with only a small increase projected by the city auditor. Much of this uncertainty comes from corporate net profit taxes, where timing issues in the state’s filing system have made collections less predictable.
Even with flat income taxes, overall general fund spending in 2026 is set to rise by about 10 percent, with operating costs growing by just over 9 percent and capital spending by roughly 11 percent. The city continues to pursue economic development, public safety, and quality of life as its three main goals, and the 2026 spending plan reflects those priorities.
A major reason 2026 stands out is timing. Several capital projects that were designed and engineered in 2024 and 2025 will finally move into the construction phase. Two in particular—the low-dam removal project and the downtown streetscape project—will require the city to encumber their full construction costs once bids are awarded, even though work will stretch beyond a single year.
City staff explained that this encumbrance will drive the general fund balance down from an expected year-end 2026 level of nearly $32.66 million back toward the levels seen in 2022 through 2024. On top of those projects, the 2026 budget includes $1.75 million for local street resurfacing and close to another million for major road projects, many of which leverage state and federal grants where Troy pays only a fraction of the total cost.
Adding to the complexity of this budget season, the Miami County Budget Commission has urged cities, townships, and school districts to roll back inside millage to blunt the impact of a roughly 28 percent jump in assessed property values across the county. Without action, those higher values would have translated into sharp increases in unvoted property taxes for homeowners and businesses. In response, the Board of Miami County Commissioners itself has already reduced the county’s inside millage, giving up expected revenue and asking local governments to consider similar steps.
For Troy, dropping the inside millage rate from 2.5 mills to about 2.01 mills would reduce annual property tax collections by roughly $464,000 dollars, leaving the city with about $1.9 million in remaining inside millage revenue. City officials have argued that such a cut, combined with the large capital program and future park and recreation investments, could make it harder to maintain reserves and meet long-term needs.
During the recent committee meeting, staff outlined how the Budget Commission’s action for 2026 effectively limits the growth in assessed values used for taxes to around 4.6 percent instead of the full 28 percent increase. For Troy’s general fund, that means no unexpected windfall and no immediate revenue hit from the new county approach; the city’s earlier revenue forecast for 2026 still holds.
At the same time, the commission went further by zeroing out the Miami Conservancy District flood protection assessment that had been collected through Troy’s inside millage, shifting what would have been a growing six-figure annual cost out of the city’s forecast—for now. Staff estimated that, had Troy fully absorbed this assessment in the general fund, the five-year ending balance in 2030 would have been about $1.8 million lower than under the revised certification.
In light of these changes, the city administration is asking City Council to pass a resolution supporting the Budget Commission’s decisions on inside millage and the Miami Conservancy District assessment for tax year 2026. The resolution is expected to be passed as an emergency measure at the next council meeting so that it can be in place for the coming tax year.
However, the city is framing this support as a one-year endorsement rather than a permanent shift in policy. The administration wants the Budget Commission to revisit its decisions next year, once Troy has better information on final project bids, updated Miami Conservancy District rates, and the early years of debt service for planned bond borrowing in 2028 and beyond.
The underlying debate mirrors the conversation at the county level. The County Auditor has pointed to Troy’s strong recent history, with the general fund balance climbing from $11 million to $30 million over five years, as evidence that the city is in sound financial shape. City leaders acknowledge the strength of current reserves but warn that projections show the fund balance falling from about $32.66 million at the end of 2026 to around $4.1 million by 2030 once major capital projects and new debt service fully take effect.
Troy uses a policy benchmark: it aims to keep reserves near 50 percent of annual operating costs plus a buffer for existing debt service. By the late 2020s, staff forecast the city’s projected ending balance dropping below that target, suggesting less room to handle a recession, a construction overrun, or an unexpected infrastructure failure.
For residents, the 2026 plan means modest relief from what could have been a sharp spike in property taxes while the city still moves forward with long-planned projects in the core of Troy. The police station renovation, including security upgrades and major changes to interior space, remains a two-phase project with $2.5 million in 2026 and another $2.5 million anticipated in 2027.
Parks and recreation spending in 2026 will focus mainly on planning rather than construction, with about $1 million set aside for design and engineering work that could lead to as much as $15 million in future investments. As those priorities become clearer and as the city edges closer to bond financing in 2028, the annual debate over inside millage rollbacks is likely to grow sharper, forcing council to weigh continued tax relief and a deeper conversation on its own reserve targets.
Participate in our November Community Survey!
So, throughout November, you can participate in our survey to give your thoughts and feelings on the direction of your hometown!
You can access the survey here:
Thanks for your time and your participation! It is greatly appreciated!
A New Handbook to grow Civic Capacity!
Recently, we created a new digital handbook, “The Citizen’s Guide to Public Records”. This handbook is designed to help residents have a better understanding of public meetings and meeting records. It’s filled with templates, ideas and other information that will open a new world of public affairs.
Also, if you have ideas for future handbooks, please let us know at pinnaclestrategiesltd@gmail.com.
Want to Learn More About Troy’s Businesses?
Our publication has recently released our September 2025 Economic Abstract, the most comprehensive and up-to-date report on the businesses and industries in the City of Troy. For those that want to understand our community’s business and industries, this is a must-have report.
Thank you to our New Media Partners!
Recently, many of our stories has been showing up on the local news website, www.mymiamicounty.com. We are grateful for the good folks for sharing our work with their audience and we would encourage our readers to check them out at their website!
Our publication would also like to recognize the good work being done at www.piquanewsnow.com. Piqua News Now is a new web-based news and information site for the Miami County area, with a specific focus on Piqua!
In addition, the good folks at Piqua News Now have started a new, 24-hour streaming YouTube channel. This channel is awesome with continuous weather updates and more importantly, it provides a 24-hour audio feed from county wide dispatch. Check it out here!
Also, thanks for reading today’s Civic Capacity Newsletter! Please feel free to share this information with your friends and neighbors.
Also, please consider subscribing to our work. If you are a free subscriber, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. For less than $1 a week, you can get timely and conversational updates about the decisions that are impacting your hometown!