MIDWAY — A new Midway City Council will start the year with a new budget.

And it will have leftover work from the previous council.

Outgoing mayor Levern Clancy said the incoming council has to look at putting a millage rate in place to fund the city’s budget.

“We didn’t move forward with it,” he said.

Also on tap for the incoming council could be higher water rates for Midway customers.

“Within the next three months, y’all need to increase water rates,” Clancy said to incoming council members in the chambers for the last meeting of the current council.

The city will start its fiscal year 2026 with a $2.33 million budget. The budget projects $2.03 million in revenues and a nearly $304,000 transfer from the city’s water fund.

Midway, which currently does not levy a millage rate on property, expects to collect $360,000 in title ad valorem taxes, an increase of $60,000 over the previous budget. The city also to collect more in insurance premium tax — $245,000 total, for a $66,000 increase — and $45,000 in local option sales tax.

The fiscal year 2026 budget calls for $486,000 in additional revenue over the FY25 budget.

Midway’s spending on its police department will be relatively level, increasing less than $2,000 from last year’s $484,000. The big jump in spending is in the revamped fire department. The city had $75,000 allotted to spend on its fire department salaries in 2025 and will spend more than $506,000 in 2026. In all, spending on the fire department will go from nearly $206,000 to almost $932,000.

The city’s water and sewer fund has a proposed revenue of $2.01 million, an increase of $605,500 from the FY25 budget. The biggest jumps — $300,000 and $220,000 respectively — are expected to come from water charges and sewer charges.

Expenses in water and sewer operations will climb from nearly $917,000 to almost $946,000. The city won’t have $130,000 set aside for capital outlay as it did in the FY25 budget, but salaries for the department are increasing by more than $56,000.

Even with the transfer to the general fund, the city projects a surplus of nearly $246,000 for its water and sewer fund.

Clancy suggested to the new council members that they hold a work session. Mayor pro tem Dr. Clemontine Washington also offered to the incoming council that teamwork is key.

“We have learned so much the last four years,” she said. “We have learned some things don’t go your way. We have learned you can get through bad times.”