The Odessa City Council adopted a property tax rate of 0.4707 per $100 valuation for the 2025 tax year (fiscal year 2025–26) after a public hearing in which residents urged caution until the city’s most recent audit is filed under a newly enacted state law.

The hearing and vote concerned the council’s proposed rate of 0.4707 (below the voter-approval rate of 0.4707001 and above the no-new-revenue rate of 0.443537). Taylor, a city staff member presenting the numbers, said, “Tonight for consideration, the city council will levy, tax rate for the 20 25 tax year, which is for fiscal year '26, by adopting a tax rate of 0.4707 cents per $100 evaluation.” The council voted unanimously to adopt the rate.

City attorney Keith Fletcher told the council that Senate Bill 1851, enacted by the Texas Legislature this year, should be treated as prospective. He said the Texas Code Construction Act presumes statutes operate prospectively and that, under the new law, an audit that is not completed and filed by the statutory deadline will limit a municipality to adopting only a no-new-revenue tax rate going forward. Fletcher said all municipal audits must be completed and filed by April 3, 2026, to avoid that penalty and that, as of the hearing, he had found no attorney general or court interpretation deciding whether the statute operates retroactively.

Public comment during the hearing included two contrasting views. Jeff Russell, a resident, urged the council to consider the cumulative effect of tax increases across local entities and warned of broad economic consequences: “a $108,000,000 is an awful lot of money.” Dallas Kennedy, who gave his address during public comment, said he supported the proposed rates and blamed earlier city management failures and missing audits for the current fiscal position: “We need our water. We need our police.”

Taylor told the council the 2026 total taxable value for Odessa properties is $13,140,215,143, an increase of 9.3 percent from 2025. The city’s prior tax rate for the current fiscal year was 0.466275. The council’s motion to adopt the 0.4707 rate was seconded by Councilman Thompson and passed unanimously; the transcript records the outcome as unanimous approval.

Fletcher told the council that while the earlier statutory requirement to file audits within 180 days had not carried a penalty, the new law imposes the no-new-revenue limitation if audits due after the effective date are not filed by the statute’s deadline. He also noted the attorney general had not yet issued a binding interpretation under SB 1851 at the time of the hearing and that any definitive legal determination would come from a court with jurisdiction if challenged.

The council’s action formalizes the tax levy for fiscal 2025–26. The public record at the hearing shows a mix of concern about taxpayer burden and urgency about stabilizing core services; residents and the city attorney emphasized different aspects of compliance and timing under the new state law.

Details from the hearing: the council adopted a 0.4707 tax rate for the 2025 tax year (fiscal 2025–26); the no-new-revenue rate was 0.443537; the voter-approval rate noted by staff was 0.4707001; total taxable value was stated as $13,140,215,143 (a 9.3% increase). The city attorney advised that audits must be filed by April 3, 2026, under his reading of the statute to avoid the no-new-revenue consequence.

No further formal fiscal directions or amendments to the rate were recorded at the hearing. The council adjourned at the end of the session.