Pressures and offsets
Positive amounts increased the levy requirement. Negative amounts offset other pressures. Category totals reconcile exactly to the City's published 2026 levy change.
One-time Legacy-income tax relief happened in 2024 — and again, at a larger scale, in 2026.
The regular policy uses Legacy Fund investment income to support the capital program. Separately, Council has also drawn accumulated Legacy Fund income from reserve to lower the tax requirement: $1.31 million in the final 2024 budget and $3 million in 2026.
Investment income → capital
The 2026 capital financing plan continues the regular $1.5 million use of Legacy Fund investment income for capital. This is separate from the extra levy offset below.
Accumulated income reserve → tax relief
This is a separate mechanism from the regular capital contribution. The 2024 budget used $1.31 million from accumulated Legacy income for tax-rate relief. The 2026 budget used $3 million, which the City says reduced the tax requirement by 1.32 percentage points.
The mechanism is not unique to 2026.
The 2024 final budget combined an $800,000 Finance Committee draw with a further $510,000 final-Council draw. The following 2025 budget did not carry that $1.31 million forward. In 2026, Council used the same type of accumulated-income reserve at a larger $3 million scale.
$800,000 was approved during Finance Committee to reduce the all-inclusive rate by 0.40 percentage points; final Council added a further one-time $510,000 draw. Total one-time Legacy Income Reserve support in the 2024 budget: $1.31M.
The 2025 budget shows Legacy Fund Reserve revenue of $0 versus $1.31M approved in 2024.
Additional one-time draw from accumulated Legacy Fund Income Retention reserve; separate from the regular $1.5M Legacy investment-income contribution to capital.
The City's preliminary 2027 budget work identifies a $3.00M base-budget correction tied to the one-time 2026 Legacy reserve use. In other words, absent another offset or a structural saving/revenue source, that amount returns as a 2027 pressure.
Accumulated investment income grew before the draw.
A reserve draw can lower the tax requirement in a particular year without lowering the recurring cost base. The 2024 experience illustrates the rollover effect: the $1.31 million tax-rate support was not carried into 2025. The 2026 draw is larger, and the City's preliminary 2027 work identifies a $3 million base-budget correction. The dashboard therefore labels these as one-time funding offsets, separate from the regular Legacy investment-income contribution to capital.
The change-factor categories come from Chart 2, “2026 Budget: Tax Levy Requirement Change Factors,” in the City's final 2026 Budget Book. The Legacy history additionally uses the November 2023 Finance Committee and December 2023 final Council records for the 2024 budget, the 2025 budget's treatment of the prior one-time draw, the City's 2026 adoption release, and its preliminary 2027 budget discussion.
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