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Manor council holds public hearing on balanced 2025–26 budget, keeps tax rate steady
Summary
City of Manor staff presented a balanced 2025–26 proposed budget and told the council the proposal does not increase the city—s tax rate; council closed the public hearing after questions about vacancies, staffing and long-term facility costs.
The City Council of Manor on Sept. 25 heard a public presentation and discussion of the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget and held a public hearing before closing it and moving toward formal adoption.
Finance director Velem told the council the proposed budget is balanced and noted staff held seven workshops from April through August to review departmental budgets. "This is a hearing for the fiscal year 25/26 proposed annual budget," Velem said.
Council members and staff focused on three near-term themes: maintaining the current tax rate, vacancy and recruitment strategies, and planning for operating costs of new public facilities. Multiple council members praised staff for producing a balanced proposal and for improving financial reporting, and they asked staff to analyze options for repurposing vacant positions rather than automatically filling them.
Council discussion highlighted that the proposed budget does not include a tax-rate increase. One council member said the city is proposing a rate "like a penny below" county calculations and that the recommended rate would remain essentially the same as the current year. Finance staff identified the county—s computed rate as 0.864090 and said the city—s proposal stands at roughly 0.8537.
Council members asked finance staff to provide more granular vacancy and recruitment analyses, including whether some vacant positions could be repackaged or consolidated to meet the most pressing workload needs and whether targeted pay adjustments might help fill hard-to-staff roles. Staff noted the budget includes a cost-of-living increase and pointed to below-market employee housing the city makes available as part of recruitment packaging.
Members also asked staff to begin setting aside funds now for operating and maintenance needs of planned facilities, including anticipated staffing and equipment costs when bond-funded projects come online. A council member provided a preliminary estimate that new facilities could require "about 7 to 8 million" dollars for operations and staffing when built; staff and the council said they would refine those projections with their financial adviser and with development projections.
The public hearing was closed by motion and the council voted to close the hearing with no public speakers registered on the budget item.
What happens next: staff will continue to refine the budget and provide requested vacancy and long-range facility cost analyses ahead of the formal adoption process.
