City Manager Eric Garrity presented the City of Graham’s proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget on a special-called council meeting, outlining a proposed total budget of about $49.3 million and recommending a city property tax rate increase from 65.5 cents to 69.5 cents per $100 of assessed value.

Garrity said the freeze-adjusted taxable value has increased about 10.4 percent in preliminary numbers and that, under current assessments, the city would collect roughly $4.0–$4.1 million in property-tax revenue to support the general fund. “I’m recommending a tax rate of 69 per $100 in assessed valuation,” Garrity said, and emphasized that council would not set the final tax rate until the formal vote in September.

The proposed general fund totals about $9.0 million and would allocate roughly $5.5 million—about 62 percent—toward core public-safety and street services, Garrity said. He described major line items included in the current draft: $860,000 budgeted for street repairs (including a $100,000 transfer from the sanitation fund), a $500,000 transfer to support the library and airport, $240,000 for water-storage tank repair, $60,000 for manhole and cleanout replacement, and a proposed $100,000 PK alternate water-supply study. The manager also proposed a tiered cost-of-living adjustment and a new $14 minimum base wage for city employees.

Garrity illustrated the homeowner impact using a $350,000 house example: at the current tax rate and the preliminary 10.4 percent assessed-value increase, city taxes would rise from about $2,002 to roughly $2,530; at the proposed 69-cent tax rate, that same home’s city taxes would rise to about $2,685. Garrity noted this process is preliminary: the Young County Appraisal District (YCAD) must certify final values (he cited the statutory July 25 certification deadline under the Local Government Code and the Texas Tax Code), and he expected some adjustments before final certification.

Council asked for staff to prioritize several spending requests and to return with updated numbers once appraisal values and other revenue estimates settle. Garrity recommended that council consider the ambulance subsidy increase, additional humane-society funding, a lighting project for the downtown district, and a block of surveillance cameras in the initial proposed budget; he said vehicle replacements for police could be phased in depending on final revenue.

Discussion only: councilmembers and staff debated which new items to include in the proposed budget and emphasized the draft nature of the presentation. Direction: council asked Garrity to rework the summary sheet to incorporate council guidance, refine revenue assumptions as YCAD final values arrive, and bring the proposal back before formal tax-rate adoption in September.

Questions remain on final assessed values, final sales-tax forecasts, and whether some items (police vehicles, additional operating subsidies) will be held pending the July certification and further council guidance.