Police commission proposes 2026 budget to cities of Abby, Colby

The Colby/Abbotsford Police Commission approved a proposed budget for 2026 at their most recent meeting held on Monday. With wage increases for officers following the approval of a new union contract, and a corresponding raise for the chief, lieutenant and secretary, as well as hikes in health insurance costs, the overall costs went up roughly 5 percent from this year’s budget.

The total revenues and expenses budgeted for 2026 have reached approximately $1.4 million. In 2025, the department budgeted approximately $1.3 million, though this number does not include $65,000 for issuing temporary license plates and associated fee expenses that were included in the 2026 version of the budget. If accounting for the same associated costs and revenues on the 2025 budget, the total for 2025 reached roughly $1.37 million, a difference of approximately $66,000, or a 4.8 percent increase.

The city of Abbotsford will see its share increase from approximately $556,000 to $587,000, while the city of Colby’s pay-in will go from approximately $411,000 to $434,000. The Abbotsford School District will go from $88,000 to $96,000 and the Colby School District’s contribution will go from $77,000 to $82,000.

Though most line items remained the same from the 2025 budget, exceptions included those for salaries and health insurance.

Following the approval of a negotiated two-year contract with the Wisconsin Professional Police Associations’ union, officers will see a 2 percent increase to their wages in both January and July of 2026 and 2027. These contracted increases were approved by both city councils during their regular monthly meetings.

During Monday’s police commission meeting, raises were also approved for the chief of police, the lieutenant and the department secretary. The raises would mirror that of the officers – a 2 percent raise in January and another 2 percent in July, though that would only apply to 2026.

Comparisons of police chief and secretary salaries with similarly sized departments in Wisconsin were presented during the meeting to give context to where the department stands at the moment.

“I think the average was $97,000 for what chiefs were making in 2025, for jurisdictions close to our size,” police chief Alex Bowman said. “I was at $87,402, so I think that’s more than fair. Of course, you have to take into account how long those chiefs have been there as well.”

The corresponding raises resulted in a total of roughly $803,000 being budgeted towards salaries in 2026, up from approximately $754,000 in 2025.

Budgeted amounts for health insurance saw an increase from $115,000 to $130,000. Bowman noted that the department has not received the exact numbers for its health insurance plan yet, but he received an estimate from a representative of the insurance cooperative that the department belongs to. He also said that the actual increase could be a little lower and the budgeted number was based on the higher end estimate.

Additional budgeted increases include $5,000 for the department audit next year, which is not an annual expense on every budget, and slight bumps for the department’s share of Social Security and state retirement contributions.

The $33,000 budgeted for fuel in 2025 was pushed back down to $30,000, which was where it sat in 2024.

Both city councils will now have a chance to review and vote on the proposed budget before it is formally adopted.