The La Marque City Council met in a special budget workshop on Aug. 4 to review the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget, and interim City Manager “Miss Holly” told council members she could not support the document as presented because it contained multiple errors and had not been received by staff or council with adequate time for review.

The budget workshop drew extended presentations from department heads including IT Director Conrad, Communications Coordinator (Miss Agatha), and Human Resources Director (Miss Hobart). Council members repeatedly emphasized public safety, drainage and roads as top community priorities and discussed holding the current maintenance-and-operations tax rate rather than raising it; the council has previously discussed a general-obligation bond for a new police station.

Miss Holly told the council she received the budget late (after 5 p.m. on Friday before the workshop) and that the city charter requires presentation of budget material well in advance of adoption; she said department heads were still unclear about what the draft contained and that she would work with staff to reduce roughly $2 million from the requests to hold the current tax rate.

Why it matters: the workshop combined a review of line-item requests with department heads’ presentations that revealed operational gaps — most notably in information technology, communications and human resources — and flagged timing and process issues in how the budget was compiled and distributed to council and to staff.

IT director presentation: Conrad said the city’s digital infrastructure needs immediate investment. He told the council the IT department currently has five staff (IT director, three technicians and an administrative assistant) and that technicians are handling complex tier‑2 and tier‑3 tasks with limited experience. Conrad proposed adding several positions — including a systems administrator and an information systems security manager — and described options ranging from two critical hires (systems administrator plus information-security manager) up to four additional positions including an audiovisual technician and an IT technician dedicated to the police department’s systems.

Conrad said current software and license costs include major upcoming renewals (Mimecast and CrowdStrike were cited) and that the city is budgeting for a large finance software purchase next year (he said the software itself approached roughly $700,000 in the proposal). He recommended a phased replacement of end‑of‑life hardware, creation of an offsite disaster‑recovery site (to protect police/fire/911 data if the police hub is disabled), and an increase in training and tabletop cyber‑incident exercises. Council members and staff raised pay competitiveness for IT hires and noted that other nearby cities staff IT departments with six to 13 people; Conrad said Alvin’s IT staff is six and League City’s is larger.

Communications and PEG fund: Communications Coordinator Miss Agatha explained her office is small (two staff today) and requested higher advertising and promotion funding (she proposed $7,000) to support city outreach, social media ads, printed materials and event presence. She highlighted a public‑access (PEG) fund that the transcript shows with an estimated ending balance (fund 88) of approximately $237,000 and said PEG has been used in the past to buy studio and streaming equipment; she suggested PEG funding could cover some audiovisual and streaming expenses and possibly items that support public safety communications if legally permissible. Council asked staff to confirm which equipment and activities are allowable under PEG rules.

Human resources and pay structure: HR Director Miss Hobart reported implementation of a new HR information system and an audit of employee personnel files. She recommended establishing consistent pay ranges across the city (a formal pay scale), but told council a full implementation that would bring all employees to the recommended ranges had been estimated previously at roughly $500,000 citywide (staff noted this figure predated recent public‑works adjustments and would need updating). Hobart also proposed expanding certification pay (for example bilingual pay) and tightening background‑check procedures; she said the city is using a lower‑cost screening service that runs county criminal searches, DPS license checks and national registries but added that accuracy depends on the data provided and recommended cross‑checking applications and records across systems.

City manager and tax rate discussion: Several council members urged holding the M&O tax rate at the current level (referred to in the meeting as roughly 39 cents) while asking Miss Holly to return with priorities and revised numbers. Council discussed continuing to pursue a voter bond for a public safety facility but not increasing the ongoing levy beyond what the council will support. Miss Holly said she will work with finance staff and department heads to produce corrected figures and options in coming budget meetings.

City clerk and records: The city clerk’s office described persistent workload pressure after prior internal reassignments moved a position that had supported records work into police files. The clerk asked the council to restore part‑time support that had been removed in a prior budget cycle; council members acknowledged state statutory requirements for the clerk’s role and asked staff to return with options for adding back capacity and for a multi‑year plan to digitize records (staff estimated digitization could require a significantly larger investment).

What’s next: staff said they will return with corrected, more granular budget formats and options for council consideration in upcoming budget meetings. Interim City Manager Miss Holly asked council members to provide priorities (road/ drainage/ public safety) and to expect staff to present scenarios that hold the current tax rate and show targeted cuts to meet it. Council scheduled follow‑up budget sessions and asked for updated, itemized figures, clearer attachments for legal and consulting fees, and confirmation of funds that can be applied from PEG or grants.

Attributions: the article refers only to statements recorded in the workshop transcript summarized above and attributes factual claims to speakers listed in the workshop roster. Direct quotes in the transcript are reproduced verbatim where used and are attributed to the speaker listed in the meeting record.