The 2026 spending plan — and the property tax levy to support it — are both in place now for the Naperville Park District.
Park board commissioners, during a meeting last Thursday, approved $55.2 million in planned spending for next year and a $27 million property tax levy to provide nearly half of the required funding. Commissioners also approved a separate levy of $67,695 to pay back debt taken out in 2020.
Commissioners made no changes to the budget, the main property tax levy, or the supplemental levy, and they approved all three unanimously after previous discussions in November.
Budget goals include referendum for activity center
Officials say the 2026 budget allows the park district to fund daily operations, capital investment, renovations, and continuous improvements. It also allows the district to afford rising costs for services and supplies, maintain the highest bond rating possible, and deliver a wide variety of programs, facilities and services, leaders wrote in a budget presentation given in November.
Budget goals include improving staff recruitment and retention, implementing recommendations from a recent indoor space needs study, executing items in the 2026-2028 strategic plan and engaging the community in an informational campaign about a referendum, which commissioners decided last week to place on the March 17, 2026 ballot.
The referendum question will ask if voters support the district taking out a $120 million loan to build a new community activity center at Frontier Sports Complex — complete with an indoor aquatics facility — and to acquire more open space and build new trails.
Property taxes for parks projected to rise $17
The property tax increase to support next year’s budget is expected to cost the owner of a $515,000 home — the average within park district boundaries — $17 more than taxes paid to the district this year. This would amount in an estimated average payment of $458.
“This budget maintains the affordability and quality of our programs and services in the face of continuously escalating operating costs,” district leaders wrote in the budget presentation.
Budget to fund renovations of 7 playgrounds
Planned projects in the 2026 budget include renovations at seven playgrounds and site improvements at the Ron Ory Community Garden Plots, including installation of permeable pavers. Eric Shutes, the district’s director of planning, told commissioners that playgrounds on the list for revamps in 2026 include Apache Park, Burr Oak, Fox Hill Greens, Knoch Park, Queensbury Greens, Springhill Park, and Wil-O-Way Park.
“As another community outreach touchpoint,” Shutes said, “residents will have an opportunity to complete play equipment questionnaires to help select the equipment.”
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