The Georgetown City Council approved an ordinance amending Chapter 4.08 of the city code and the city’s fiscal and budgetary purchasing policies to increase staff contract signature authority and raise procurement thresholds.

Kelly (staff member) told the council the changes respond to state law enacted this legislative session (Senate Bill 1173), which raised the threshold requiring competitive sealed bids from $50,000 to $100,000, and to a procurement boot camp the city held with the Texas Municipal League. She said the proposed changes raise manager change-order authority from $5,000 to $10,000 and director authority from $10,000 to $25,000; city-manager and assistant city-manager authority would increase from $50,000 to $100,000. Council approval would be required for contracts over $100,000 instead of the prior $50,000 threshold.

On procurement tiers, staff proposed no change to the $3,000 or less tier. The next tier would increase from $25,000 to $50,000, preserving current HUB-search and quote requirements; the mid-tier would increase from $50,000 to $100,000 with three-quote and HUB-search requirements; formal solicitation threshold would rise to $100,000 or more.

Kelly said that if these policies had been in place for 2025, 114 contracts would have fallen into the $50,000–$100,000 range, totaling about $8.4 million. She said the changes were reviewed by the council audit and finance subcommittee. The council moved and passed the ordinance on the first reading.

The ordinance amends the city code’s contracting authority sections and purchasing/requisition approvals in the fiscal policy. It also includes a severability clause and repeals conflicting ordinances and resolutions.