CUMBERLAND — Cumberland’s newly proposed 2026 budget grows spending by more than 12% over this year’s plan, but town leaders say state tax changes will limit their ability to maintain — and grow — services residents value.
The Town says the $7.48 million spending plan is up about $776,673 from 2025 and taps $198,294 from excess reserves to bolster the self-insurance fund. Officials also cut roughly $400,000 from the proposal and deferred several capital projects, including road, trail and park improvements, in response to revenue reductions tied to Senate Enrolled Act 1.
SEA 1, signed into law in April by Governor Mike Braun, gives homeowners a 10% property tax cut or up to $300 off their bills. While intended to ease housing costs, the measure also delays new municipal income tax authority until 2028.
“We had to cut back quite a bit from this budget,” Town Manager Ben Lipps said. “We had planned additional officers. We’re still able to get one, luckily, before the legislation... we had planned on adding three this year.”
Captain of investigations for the Cumberland Police Department, Mark Waggoner, said the cuts will be felt quickly on the street. “When we have three or four officers on a shift and we desperately need more than that, not being able to add that for public safety reasons, like I said, it hurts us,” he said.
Longtime resident and business owner Nicole Dufour wants to see the town grow despite the financial pressures.
“We want more restaurants and more things to do,” she said. “The east side doesn’t get a lot of positive publicity, but we’re a good community. We love each other. We want to support each other.”
Dufour stressed public safety as a top priority. “It’s a must, you have to have police officers,” she said.
Lipps said it will take careful planning to preserve the amenities residents enjoy while navigating the state-imposed limits.
“Our citizens love our trails, they love our parks, they love our community policing,” he said. “It gets hard to maintain that and build that when your revenues are controlled by the state as opposed to the citizens of Cumberland and the council of Cumberland.”
The 2026 budget will be presented to the Town Council for consideration on Wednesday, October 1 at 7 p.m.
