Haslet Type B EDC approves FY2025–26 budget adjustments, boosts legal and engineering lines

HASLET, Texas — The Haslet Community Economic Development Corporation (HCEDC) Type B board on July 28 reviewed its proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget, approved several line-item adjustments and directed staff to forward the revised proposal to the city council and budget officer.

Board members focused discussion on how recent property sales will appear in the ledger, recurring obligations such as a $35,000 annual contribution tied to water and sewer certificates, and several modest increases to contingency and operating lines. The board voted unanimously to ask staff to make the agreed changes and present the revised budget to the council.

The board heard staff explain how the proceeds from two recent property sales will be recorded. “When you sell that property, it’s the difference between what you sold it for, less your closing costs, less the value it was on the books for, and that difference is what shows up as your gain on the loss or gain or loss on the sale,” said Marcy, a city staff member who prepared the budget worksheets. Marcy told the board the current projection will record a gain of $168,006.76 in the projected year-end column; that amount will be updated in the final budget and will adjust the board’s beginning fund balance for the next fiscal year.

Members agreed to drop revenues and maintenance expenses tied to parcels that already sold; staff said maintenance and insurance lines will be adjusted once the properties are removed from the portfolio. The board confirmed one remaining insured asset is the furnished boardroom at the office space the EDC occupies.

Several spending-line changes were adopted during the meeting: attorney fees were increased to $25,000 and the engineering allocation was raised to $20,000 to account for anticipated project work such as potential park or parking improvements. The board added $1,200 for chamber luncheon attendance and set a $5,000 placeholder for memberships on page 14 of the packet. The previously budgeted $30,000 for the business improvement grant remained in the worksheet; board members noted the grant program is on hold pending a reworked process drafted by the mayor’s office and counsel.

Board members also reviewed ongoing obligations: a $35,000 annual transfer toward water/sewer debt service remains in the projection per the bond debt-service schedule, and the group’s share of the 2022 certificates of obligation continues to include scheduled principal and interest payments handled by US Bank as fiscal agent. Staff said bond principal payments and fiscal-agent fees are already scheduled for the coming year.

Board members discussed training, conferences, marketing and consultant lines, but did not adopt large increases for these items. The packet shows interest income from invested cash balances has been relatively strong, and staff said investment-management fees are handled within pooled accounts rather than as separate line items.

At the close of the discussion a board member moved to have staff make the agreed adjustments and present the revised budget to the council; a second was recorded and the motion passed unanimously. The board then moved to close the open meeting; the motion carried and the meeting was adjourned at 7:20 p.m.

The next step noted in the meeting is for Marcy to revise the worksheet to reflect the sales proceeds, the adjusted line items and the dropped properties and to forward the proposal for the city budget officer’s consideration and the council’s formal budget revision process.