The city of Aurora’s recently-proposed 2026 budget includes millions of dollars in funding cuts and nearly 140 less positions but still has a $2.5 million deficit.
In total, the budget proposed for next year is $163.6 million less than this year’s, city officials told reporters at a meeting on Thursday. That decrease, which sets the overall budget at around $569 million, is mostly because of bonds the city took out this year for big construction projects, according to Mayor John Laesch.
Actual cuts to the city’s main operating fund made throughout the budget process totaled around $19 million, or around 7% of the starting budget, city officials’ presentation showed. The proposed 2026 budget still has a difference between revenue and expenses of $2.5 million in its main operating fund, down from the nearly $30 million deficit that officials said the budget had earlier in the process.
“Overall, I think we took the right approach of trying to balance revenue, cuts and finding creative ways to still provide city services given the current financial situation that we inherited,” he said.
The average person in Aurora wouldn’t see dramatic shifts in services under the proposed budget, according to Laesch. He said that staffing was considered last when looking for cuts to make.
The proposed budget keeps the general tax levy flat, so regular city functions aren’t expected to impact property taxes. However, property taxes required to repay the city’s debts and for police and fire pensions will see an increase, city officials said.
Like the overall budget, the city’s main operating fund next year is proposed to be less than this year’s. The general fund in 2026 is proposed to be at $249 million, which is $5 million less than what was budgeted in 2025, according to the presentation by officials.
Of the 139 staffing cuts in the proposed 2026 budget, which included both permanent and temporary roles, 70 were to vacant positions, Laesch said during the presentation.
Chief of Staff Shannon Cameron said that those positions were largely vacant because the city worked to not fill them, as officials knew this type of thing was coming.
Public safety departments, which have the largest budgets, saw the smallest percentage cuts to their budgets but still are on track to lose over 60 full-time equivalent positions, the presentation showed.
In the police department, proposed staffing cuts include 11 police officer positions, although seven were vacant. The department would also lose 19 support staff positions, 11 of which were vacant, and the cadet program is planned to be cut after the 12 people currently in the program complete it.
Cameron said that, despite the cut officer positions, 911 calls would still be responded to. The difference might be in how many officers initially respond to a call, she said, whereas currently multiple units might all respond to the same call.
In total, the police department’s budget is proposed to be at $104.3 million in 2026, and it saw a nearly 4.5% cut during the budget process. That’s still more than was budgeted for this year, the presentation showed.
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The fire department’s budget, proposed for $66.5 million, saw an even smaller cut during the budget process at around 3%. And, like the police department’s proposed 2026 budget, it is more than this year’s, according to the presentation.
The city is planning to open new Fire Station 13 and would continue to staff all stations with a fire engine and ambulance, but two of the department’s four ladder trucks would go unstaffed, Laesch said.
Other city departments with far smaller budgets are facing higher-percentage proposed cuts. For example, the Community Services Department saw a roughly 16% cut through the process, which left its proposed budget at nearly $6 million, the presentation showed.
The Community Affairs Department is proposed to be completely eliminated along with its budget of around $940,000.
The budget also proposes other structural changes, including moving the Public Facilities Department under the Public Works Department plus moving the city clerk and economic development offices under the Executive Department, according to the presentation to reporters on Thursday.
Other proposed cuts target funding for the Aurora STEAM Academy and some software the city uses. Plus, funding for The Neighbor Project is being shifted, and there will be “significantly reduced” historic preservation grants and funds, the presentation showed.
Aurora officials have been saying for months that the city’s 2026 budget is facing a significant deficit. Earlier in the budget process, the projected difference between revenue and expenses was said to be roughly $30 million, not taking into account new requests from departments or certain potential pay increases.
Now the deficit in the proposed 2026 budget is down to around $2.5 million, Laesch told reporters Thursday. When asked if the budget crisis was solved, he said that it mostly was, though there is a little more work to do next year.
The big question marks, according to Laesch, are what happens to federal funding, what happens with the census recount and what revenue the Hollywood Casino’s new location will bring to the city.
The currently-proposed deficit might be closed by the additional revenue brought in by the new casino or might be closed by the sale of city property, but funds that would otherwise be used for capital projects are being set aside to fill the gap if needed, Laesch said.
Aurora’s current financial situation is one of the most serious it has ever faced, city staff have said.
Brian Caputo, who previously served as the city’s finance director and recently rejoined the city as director of fiscal integrity and government operations, told the Aurora City Council in August that many revenue streams were actually doing well, but expenses have outpaced revenue. Past budgets had been balanced by moving money typically set aside for long-term needs like insurance and capital projects into the city’s general fund, he said.
What that means is that the “fundamental financial structure of the city … does not work as it is currently set up,” Caputo said at the time.
The presentation to reporters Thursday showed that the city’s general fund had a growing budget deficit, which in 2023 was around $7.3 million but had grown to $20.4 million in this year’s budget.
This growing deficit was after pandemic-era relief funds came and went, which is when Laesch said the city “decided to start borrowing.” When asked to clarify, officials said the city was borrowing from other funds, through bonds and through lines of credit.
In addition to working on cuts for the proposed 2026 budget, Aurora officials in recent months have also proposed and gotten approval for some ways to increase or stabilize city revenue. This includes an approved increase to the city’s hotel tax, a proposed increase in the number of gambling machines businesses are allowed to operate and the approved local continuation of a grocery tax set to otherwise expire statewide at the end of the year.
After months of work, the proposed 2026 budget was released to the public this week. A copy can be found at: www.aurora.il.us/Government-and-Engagement/Finance/Budget
Now, the proposed budget is set to go through a series of meetings of the Aurora City Council’s Finance Committee starting next week. The Aurora City Council needs to formally approve the budget before the end of the year.
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If approved, there is no set timeline for when layoffs may take place, according to Cameron.
The Aurora City Council on Tuesday passed a plan that allows certain city employees to get eight week’s pay and benefits in exchange for leaving their job before the end of the year.
The potential effects of this plan are not currently considered in the proposed 2026 budget, according to Laesch. He said people choosing to leave through the plan might lower the proposed $2.5 million deficit or might save someone else’s position from being eliminated.