The Killeen City Council on Aug. 5 set a preliminary property tax rate of 70.14 cents per $100 of assessed value for fiscal year 2026 and scheduled a public hearing on the tax rate for Sept. 2 at 3 p.m. at City Hall.

Lede: Councilmember Solomon moved to set the preliminary rate at 0.7014; the motion carried unanimously on a recorded vote, and the council directed staff to include a set of police, fire and one‑time capital items in the proposed budget while returning to adopt a final rate in September.

Nut graf: The rate the council set is just under the “voter‑approval” threshold that would trigger an automatic election; city staff explained the calculation and said the recommended rate is intended to preserve recent gains in recruiting and retaining public safety personnel while funding several nonrecurring capital items.

What the city proposed: City Manager/Finance staff presented a package of recurring and one‑time items tied to the rate. Recurring items included a recommended increase in the cost‑of‑living adjustment (COLA) from 4% to 5% across city employees and incentive or reclassification adjustments for public safety roles (for example, reclassifying a fire captain to battalion chief, field training officer pay adjustments, and pay for an arson investigator). Nonrecurring items the staff proposed funding from year‑end savings included a downtown nighttime enforcement unit (four officers and one sergeant plus equipment), an evidence‑room impound lot for the police department, a fire training tower, and vehicle/equipment purchases for a deputy chief position.

Why it matters: The council and staff emphasized recruitment and retention as a priority. “We were completely staffed,” the city manager noted in describing recent improvements; council members said higher pay helps keep trained officers and firefighters and reduces training costs caused by turnover.

Questions and constraints: Council members asked what the rate would mean to a median homeowner. Staff said the median homestead value used in the computation was $233,000 under the new roll and that the proposed rate would increase the annual tax bill for the median home by about $185 per year, roughly $15.43 per month. Staff warned that adopting a higher rate than the voter‑approval rate would trigger an election; the council explicitly set the preliminary rate below that threshold to avoid an automatic election.

Action taken: The council passed RS25127 setting the preliminary tax rate at 70.14¢ and establishing Sept. 2, 2025 at 3 p.m. for the public hearing. The vote was recorded and carried unanimously.

Next steps: The council will hold the required public hearing in September and may adopt a final rate at that meeting; any final decision must respect state tax code procedures for public notice and voter‑approval calculations.

Note on process: City staff repeatedly urged that some proposed items are one‑time capital projects best funded from year‑end savings rather than recurring revenues, while recurring personnel costs require long‑term funding commitments that would need to be included in future budgets if adopted.