The El Campo City Council voted on Sept. 8 to postpone adoption of the fiscal year 2026 budget and set a workshop to review the document before the next regular meeting. The motion to postpone carried 5-1.

A councilmember moved to delay approving the budget to allow the full council more time to review line items and explore cost-saving options to avoid a tax increase. "I don't know if everybody's studied the line items in this budget to realize changes like that have taken place or not," the councilmember said, urging a detailed review. Staff said the city had held multiple budget workshops beginning in June and already reduced the general fund budget by $232,000, but acknowledged that additional council review was reasonable.

Because the city charter and state law require that the budget be adopted no later than the end of the month, staff recommended either adopting now and amending later or holding a dedicated workshop and adopting at the next regular meeting. Council members directed staff to gather council questions in writing and to prepare line-by-line presentations for the workshop.

Outcome and schedule: the council agreed to a budget workshop on Sept. 15 at 7 p.m., and to postpone formal adoption until the regular council meeting on Sept. 22. The council also postponed consideration of the related ordinance on the tax rate until Sept. 22. "We will be having a special called meeting to discuss this budget in 1 week on September 15 at ... a workshop to discuss the budget on September 15 at 7PM," the presiding officer said after the vote.

Substantive concerns raised in the discussion included whether county entities should shoulder a larger share of costs for services used countywide (parks, emergency communications) and a decision earlier in the proposed budget to reduce demolition spending from $40,000 to $5,000. Staff noted some demolition costs decreased because property owners performed the work themselves. Council members requested clearer explanations of these line-item changes and recommendations for potential offsetting savings.

The council took no action to adopt the budget on Sept. 8 and directed staff to prepare materials for an in-depth workshop and for final action on Sept. 22.