July 23, 2025
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Kankakee City Council passes 2026 budget

By Jeff Bonty
Traffic travels along Route 45 past Shapiro Developmental Center on June 11, 2025. Seventy acres of unutilized land on the south end of Shapiro's campus has been tabbed for the state’s new “Surplus to Success” program.

Traffic travels into Kankakee along Route 45. (Tiffany Blanchette)

The Kankakee City Council passed the fiscal 2026 budget ordinance during Monday’s meeting.

The vote was 12-0 with alderpersons Cherry Malone-Marshall and Carmen Lewis absent.

The administration proposed revenues of $38,793,304 and expenses of $38,679,664.

Those two numbers have the council squeezing out a mere $113,640 projected budget surplus, or about three-tenths of a percent of revenue over expenses.

Mayor Chris Curtis said the budget surplus is in line with the past four years’ budgets.

As usual, the two largest consumers of taxpayer money are the police and fire departments.

The proposed budget earmarks $9.4 million for the police department and nearly $6.8 million for the fire department. The police total is about $500,000 over the 2025 budget figure, and the fire department’s is $400,000 higher.

While the new budget year officially begins May 1, Kankakee has typically approved the document in July.