Lakeway council adopts $20.784 million budget and 0.16964 tax rate after extended debate

Lakeway City Council on Sept. 22 adopted an ordinance approving the city’s fiscal year 2025–26 budget and a separate ordinance setting the maintenance-and-operations and debt-service property tax rate at 0.16964, a 5.2% increase. The council approved the budget ordinance on a 6–1 record vote and the tax ordinance on the same 6–1 tally.

City Manager delivered the staff report and described the budget as “the reflection of the city's values,” urging council to focus on priorities, revenue forecasts and service levels as they finalized numbers for the year beginning Oct. 1, 2025. The transcript shows the council spent most of the meeting negotiating revenue assumptions and supplemental budget items before voting to adopt the package presented at 9:20 p.m.

Council and staff debated several revenue assumptions that shaped the final numbers. The council voted to raise the sales-tax forecast used in the budget from $5.9 million to $6.1 million based on updated Comptroller data and a consultant forecast. Council members also discussed building-development (BDS) permit revenue and vacancy-savings assumptions; during the meeting members proposed…