Weatherford presents FY 2026 proposed budget and posts tax-rate notice

City Manager Tom Bridal presented the Weatherford city manager's proposed fiscal year 2026 budget Tuesday and described a balanced plan that he said preserves reserves while funding infrastructure and public safety priorities.

"Our combined revenues across all funds are 77,500,000.0," Bridal said, and he told the council the proposal projects total expenditures of $75,600,000.0 and a marginal general-fund surplus.

The proposed budget covers 25 separate funds, supports 332 full-time employees and excludes the electric and water utilities, Bridal said. The general fund is projected to receive $55,800,000 in revenues and carry $55,700,000 in expenditures, producing a surplus Bridal described as approximately $47,000. He said the city expects to maintain reserves equal to more than 120 days of operations and that roughly $15,000,000 of fund balance will remain accessible beyond the 120-day reserve requirement.

Bridal highlighted major priorities in the proposal: transportation improvements including Lamar Street and Clermont Boulevard, design costs for Fire Station 5 in the northeast section of the city, park renovations at Holland Lake Park, Love Street Park and Grama Park, and allocations for vehicle and equipment replacement. He also said the budget includes staffing changes including the addition of three firefighters to complete a three-year staffing plan to staff Fire Station 5 and a reallocation of several mid-level positions to create an additional animal-control officer, an animal care technician and an IT specialist; Bridal said those reassignments produced no net increase in full-time equivalents except for the three firefighters.

In a separate presentation, Dawn Brooks reviewed the truth-in-taxation steps the city has taken for tax year 2025 and presented the calculated rates that staff posted on the city website on Aug. 7. Brooks told council the 2025 no-new-revenue tax rate is 39.2246 cents per $100 of taxable value; that rate, she said, was used in developing the FY 2026 budget. Brooks also gave the voter-approval rate as 50.1813 cents per $100 of taxable value and said the city's overall taxable appraisal roll increased by roughly $410,000,000 (8.41%), bringing the total taxable base to about $5,300,000,000. Using the no-new-revenue rate, Brooks said the estimated tax bill for the average home valued at $294,321 would be about $1,154.

Bridal and Brooks noted the next steps in the calendar: staff will ask the council to formally propose a tax rate at the Aug. 26 council meeting; the council will hold public hearings and take final action on the budget and tax rate in September. The budget manager, Ashley Esquivel, and Bridal offered to answer council questions as the packet materials are reviewed between meetings.

Why it matters: the proposed budget and tax-rate notice set the framework for how Weatherford plans to finance public safety, streets and parks next fiscal year and begin the formal legal steps required under truth-in-taxation rules before the council adopts a final rate.

Meeting sequence and procedure: the FY 2026 budget was presented as an informational item (no vote taken). The notice of calculated tax rates was accepted by council as an informational, publishable item after a motion and second and a recorded electronic vote via the council's touchscreens; staff will return with a formal proposal and public hearings as required under state procedures.