MANSFIELD — Mansfield City Council has approved Mayor Jodie Perry’s annual budgets largely without question the last two years.
That changed Tuesday evening during a nearly 30-minute finance committee meeting.
Perry and Finance Director Kelly Converse were invited to sit in front of lawmakers to answer inquiries about the proposed 2026 interim budget blueprint.
No council members requested specific changes during or after the committee meeting, chaired by At-large Councilman David Falquette.
Later in the evening, during its legislative session, lawmakers later gave the budget plan a second read and scheduled a final vote for it Dec. 16.
A temporary budget must be approved by the end of 2025 and a permanent spending plan authorized by the end of March.
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Mansfield mayor introduces ‘responsible’ 2026 temporary budget to City Council
Mayor Jodie Perry on Tuesday evening unveiled to City Council what she termed a “responsible” financial blueprint for 2026.
Perry unveiled Nov. 18 what she called a “responsible” financial blueprint for 2026, one which calls for $37.7 million in general fund spending next year.
That’s about $325,000 less than was budgeted for 2025, according to the mayor and Converse. The 2025 budget called for $38.1 million in general fund spending.
In an email last week to fellow lawmakers inviting questions, Falquette said he didn’t see the point of inviting department heads to explain their budgets to council.
“I was never surprised that they always agreed that the budget would support their operations after they already knew their boss’s position,” Falquette wrote, also offering his own questions in writing prior to the session.
(Below is the livestream video from Tuesday evening’s Mansfield City Council meeting. The finance committee budget discussion with Mayor Jodie Perry and Finance Director Kelly Converse begins around the 19-minute mark.)
Perry said she had to trim about $8 million from department budget requests for 2026, with about about $3 million coming from a requested capital improvement project at Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport.
“That’s a significant amount to have to cut off the bottom line (of the general fund budget),” Perry said, adding that cuts were made to every department request.
“(Cuts were made) primarily in capital budgets, though certainly some operations, as well.”
Converse has said she expects 2026 city revenue, largely based on income taxes, to be flat when compared to 2025.
“Income tax revenue (this year) is flat (compared to 2024), but that’s only because of the Water Main Initiative money that’s been added. Otherwise, it’s in a period of slight decline.
“For next year, we estimated conservatively, like we always do. We used a three-year average of the last three years to determine where we think income taxes might come in next year and other taxes, as well,” the finance director has said.
Perry and Converse said they would look at plans for a permanent budget once final numbers are in for 2025.
City Council also on Tuesday:
— approved legislation related to pursuing a $1 million state grant to be used for the demolition of the West Park Shopping Center on Park Avenue West.
— voted to accept a $1.3 million COPS hiring program grant through the U.S. Dept. of Justice. The grant will help fund four police officers for the next four years.
— voted to accept a $300 grant from Kokosing to purchase new traffic vests for the Mansfield Police Department Cadets program.
— voted to accept a $1,445 grant from Frederick Haring to be used for a park bench at the Sterkel Dog Park in memory of his late wife, Linda.
— approved a new City of Mansfield cybersecurity program.
— approved spending up to $49,999.89 for a new Bobcat compact excavator. The value of the new equipment is $82,199.89 and the city will trade in a current excavator for a credit of $32,200.
— voted to use city PRIDE funds to demolish dilapidated structures at 41 Chestnut St., 368 Harding Road, 79 Eleanor Ave., 571 Springmill St., 436 Grace St., 132 Hedges St., 501 Springmill St., 1111 Boyle Road and 513 W. Fourth St.
