The Liberty Hill City Council on Aug. 27 adopted the city’s fiscal year 2025–26 budget and separately approved an ad valorem tax rate set at the no-new-revenue level. The council voted 6–0 to approve ordinance 2025‑O‑032, which sets appropriations for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2025, and ending Sept. 30, 2026. The council later voted unanimously to adopt ordinance 2025‑O‑033, levying property taxes at a rate of 0.469407 per $100 valuation (0.304358 maintenance and operations; 0.165049 debt service).
City staff presented the budget after six months of work. Staff member Josh Armstrong said the document was built around the “no new revenue rate” and that the budget moved capital items into the correct capital-improvement-program budget and removed duplicate or unnecessary recurring line items. “This is a budget that was built around the no new revenue rate,” Armstrong said. He told council the city used new ClearGov software to present the document and that although it is not perfect, it contains more information than previous versions.
The council opened a public hearing on the budget; no members of the public spoke. Councilmember Wade Ashley moved to approve the appropriation ordinance; the motion was seconded and approved. The ordinance caption adopted by the council includes provisions for appropriating debt sinking‑fund payments and enacting the municipal budget for fiscal year 2025–26. The roll-call vote was recorded as 6–0 in favor.
Separately, council considered the tax-rate ordinance. Armstrong again stated the city’s position that the rate being adopted was the no-new-revenue rate. Council members asked about a discrepancy between a cover sheet and the ordinance text; staff said the ordinance contained the correct figures and that a corrected document had been circulated by email. Councilmember motion and second produced a unanimous vote to adopt the tax-rate ordinance.
The budget adoption and tax-rate ratification were presented as routine annual actions to fund city operations and debt service under the existing no-new-revenue guidance provided earlier in the budget process. Future budget materials will be available online through the city’s ClearGov portal, which staff said provides a redesigned public view of the budget.