Gunbarrel City tables budget after public urges restoring employee raises

Members of the public urged the Gunbarrel City Council on Tuesday to restore employee pay increases as council postponed action on the city’s fiscal-year budget. Councilmembers voted to table the budget items because two members were absent, leaving the council unable to consider the measures.

The most direct appeal came from resident Keith Bond, who told the council he was “here tonight because I’ve got a question for the 2 council members that are absent” and that those members were effectively “holding the city budget hostage over 1.25% of the total budget.” Bond said that “1.25% of a $5,000,000 almost $6,000,000 budget is not even a drop in a bucket,” and asked council to approve raises for city employees.

Why it matters: council staff and multiple speakers said the budget includes across-the-board raises intended to help retain employees. Residents and business owners told the council they have seen staffing and service improvements and urged the council not to cut pay increases.

Citizen comments during the public-comment period reinforced that message. Resident Marty Mullins praised city staff and department heads and said, “we’ve got a really good set of employees here in the city, and we need to keep them.” Cindy Key, speaking as a former council member, said she “support[s] restoring the 3 to 4% wage increase for the employees that is not in the budget being presented tonight.” Business owner Zach (last name not specified) and Daryl Bowe, a local store manager, also urged the council to prioritize employee pay and public safety staffing.

Council action: With two members absent, the council made a formal motion to table agenda items 8a–8d (the budget items including the tax) to a later date and set a special meeting to complete budget consideration. The motion passed unanimously in the roll call taken after the motion: Burns — yes; Jacobs — yes; Edwards — yes. The council did not adopt any budget ordinances or tax rates at the meeting.

Discussion versus decision: The public remarks and staff presentations constituted discussion and advocacy. The only formal action taken on the budget items was to table (postpone) them; no substantive amendment or vote on raises occurred at this meeting.

Next steps: Councilmembers indicated the budget will be taken up at a special meeting to be scheduled when absent members can attend. The record shows the council intends to reconvene to vote on the postponed budget items.