As the Sioux City Council members work to create a new 2026-27 fiscal year budget, an extended meeting will be held at 8:30 a.m Saturday at City Hall.
That meeting will be held to review the operating budget segments for city departments, which cover salaries and the costs of running the offices.
The proposed operating budget for the year ahead is just under $259 million, which is up one-half of one percent from the current budget of $257.5 million.
About 13 percent of that proposed budget covers city debt payments.
City resident Shelby Pierce on Thursday said she is among some people who want the council not to make cuts to the library system, art center and museum.
Pierce said the library in particular should be kept operating all three locations. The proposed budget shows funding roughly close to the current year, with $3.8 million both years.
“The library is a large concern of mine for the upcoming budget considerations – and yeah, along with our museum and art center, these sort of publicly-run kind of education and enrichment spaces,” Pierce said.
The council on January 17 had a prior long budget session to discuss large dollar items in the Capital Improvement Plan.
In a Thursday release, first-year Councilman Rick Bertrand said the council will pass a lean budget.
Bertrand called on the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors and Sioux City School Board “to do their part in lowering local property taxes.”
Iowa municipalities must pass annual budgets by April, for spending that begins on July 1.
