Butler residents are one step closer to experiencing significant tax relief after city officials advanced the city’s budget for 2026.

City Council voted unanimously on Wednesday evening, Nov. 19, to introduce and advertise the 2026 preliminary budget, which also includes a roughly 11-mill, or 25%, decrease in property taxes.

Total revenues and expenditures in the preliminary budget total $11.21 million, representing about a 3% increase compared to last year’s total of $10.87 million.

Councilman Don Shearer also broke down over $5 million the city expects to spend on capital projects over the next year. Projects include the purchasing of new fire apparatus, renovations on the city building, the replacement and purchase of equipment and more.

“We have almost $900,000 in street paving. There’s $3 million in stormwater projects. We set aside $50,000 in case Pullman Park needed it, even though we’re pretty sure they won’t,” Shearer said.

Mayor Bob Dandoy previously said the city will be able to implement tax cuts by chipping away at debt service using the city’s $50 million Legacy Fund — a portion of the $90 million plus received through the sale of the Butler Area Sewer Authority.

To that end, a motion to move $8 million to a new NexTier Wealth Management account specifically to act as a tax relief investment fund for the city passed unanimously. The funds and any earnings it accrues will be used toward reducing the debt service until it is eliminated.

“That way, we can make the decisions and have the flexibility that all of a sudden, if the market isn’t going anywhere and we say maybe it’s best to pay it off, we have the money aside to do that,” Dandoy said.

The budget will be available for review at the city building until council votes on a finalized budget.

The next Butler City Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Thursday, Dec. 4.