ESCANABA, Mich. (WZMQ) – With a new fiscal year beginning July 1, the City of Escanaba is putting the finishing touches on its budget.
On Thursday, the City Council approved the 2025 – 2026 tax levy ordinance. The City has maintained its current 17.442 millage rate for the last few years. That rate will remain in place, so residents will not experience a tax increase.
According to City Manager Jim McNeil, Escanaba is looking at a “more or less” balanced budget, which includes investments in infrastructure and parks.
“We want to put things into the community that people like,” McNeil said. “We think we have a good plan to get that done over the next couple years and set ourselves up in a really good position long-term to either look at, ‘Do we want to keep making investment”‘ or ‘Do we want to consider a change to the millage?’ A lot of municipalities—Escanaba included—are dealing with a lot of infrastructure that’s been underinvested and a lot of debts with pensions. Our plan is to really get caught up on that and set ourselves up for a future of lower costs.”
The City Council will approve utility rates—which are set to increase for water, wastewater, and electric—on June 2.
