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Taylor council adopts FY2026 budget and approves 0.585 tax rate
Summary
Taylor City Council on a 5-0 vote adopted the fiscal year 2026 budget and approved a tax rate of $0.585 per $100 valuation, funding one-time capital purchases and new public safety positions and moving the sanitation fund into the general fund.
The Taylor City Council adopted an annual budget for fiscal year 2026 and approved a tax rate of $0.585 per $100 of taxable value in unanimous votes Friday evening.
Deputy Chief Financial Officer Lydia Collins told the council the proposed budget is balanced and highlights about $4,000,000 for a Public Works building, $850,000 for fire apparatus, vehicle purchases for the police and public works departments and several one-time capital expenditures. Collins said the amendment introduced earlier in the meeting also eliminates the separate sanitation fund and moves approximately $2,000,000 into the general fund.
The council held required public hearings on the FY2026 budget and the rate and then approved two required motions: a motion to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the budget and a motion to adopt ordinance 2025-29 adopting the FY2026 budget. Both motions passed on recorded 5-0 votes. Later the council approved ordinance 2025-30 fixing and levying the ad valorem tax for tax year 2025 (fiscal year 2026) at 0.585 per $100 valuation, also by a 5-0 record vote.
City Manager Robert Laborde described the finance approach behind several one-time purchases: "for every dollar that we've got, we spend 50¢ on needed equipment, one-time purchase, but the other 50 went back into the fund balance." He told the council staff chose to use cash for roughly $5 million to $6 million in one-time capital expenditures instead of issuing long-term debt.
The budget includes funding for three new police positions, one public works position (reallocated from the animal shelter), and contingency for six firefighter positions pending a SAFER grant award; the SAFER positions are contingent on grant approval and the city’s local matching shares. Collins said the city also expects a pending FEMA reimbursement of about $3,900,000 related to prior storm damage but noted those funds are not yet received and therefore were not counted in the adopted budget.
Council members emphasized that lowering the tax rate does not automatically reduce every homeowner’s tax bill because of changing property values. Collins said the city’s calculated voter-approval tax rate is 0.585 per $100 and the calculated “no-new-revenue” rate is 0.51238 per $100; the manager’s proposed budget relied on the 0.585 figure.
As part of the meeting the council also introduced ordinance 2025-31, an amendment to the FY2025 budget that will roll forward appropriations for prior-year contract commitments, record unforeseen expenditures and reflect the sanitation fund transfer; the city attorney read the ordinance language as part of the introduction. The ordinance introduction was informational and no final adoption vote on 2025-31 occurred at that time.
The council’s votes to adopt the FY2026 budget and set the tax rate were recorded as unanimous (Aye votes recorded from Councilman Redden, Councilwoman Cobb, Mayor Duane Areola, Mayor Pro Tem Sameric and Councilwoman Long). The city clerk conducted the roll-call votes.
