Glenn Heights council delays budget adoption after hour-long review of pay, investments and capital requests

City Manager Clifford Blackwell presented the second reading of the city’s fiscal 2025–26 budget and recommended a mix of recurring and one-time expenditures — but the City Council voted unanimously to delay final adoption until Sept. 16 so members can review staff-provided pay-step detail and other backup materials.

Blackwell told the council the package before them included roughly $34 million in operating budget activity and about $10.3 million in capital spending and that revised operating revenues are now approximately $34.7 million. He described two revenue adjustments made since the prior week: adding a budget line for school resource officer (SRO) reimbursements from DeSoto Independent School District (which covers about 80% of the salaries and benefits for two SROs) and increasing projected interest earnings after better-than-expected returns from the city’s investment pools.

The city manager outlined recommended recurring additions including a fire marshal position (prorated to start in January), another dispatcher (hired and prorated to January), a grounds-maintenance hire (targeted for March), and market adjustments for police and fire pay to bring those positions from roughly 90% of market to 100% of the benchmark minimum. Blackwell said funding those recurring changes would cost about $402,000 (he described the number as approximately $402,000 instead of a previously cited $439,000) and that the package of recurring and one-time items would fit within the proposed fund balance, leaving the city with reserves above its policy minimums.

To generate additional surplus, staff reduced two expenditure lines from the prior draft: an events contingency from $50,000 to $10,000 (a $40,000 cut) and a parks and recreation professional services line by about $20,000. Blackwell also said staff increased the interest-earnings line by roughly $150,000 after reviewing year-end projections and average daily yields reported by the TechStar and Lone Star investment pools.

Council members pressed staff for more detail on the salary-step system used for civilian employees and for a roster showing each civilian position and the current step placement. Several members said the pay-plan methodology and the 10-step progression adopted in prior years is confusing to them and asked for comparisons showing minimum, midpoint and maximum benchmarks alongside the current step positions. Council members said they support closing the gap for police and fire but want clearer documentation about how civilian step increases, merit adjustments and future benchmarking will be managed.

Councilmember discussion also asked for more frequent budget monitoring (quarterly snapshots) and for staff to identify contingency line items that could be cut if investment returns decline. Finance staff (Miss Roberts) and Blackwell said the city’s pooled investments have daily liquidity, a net asset value of $1 per share, and provided daily and seven-day yields; Blackwell said the pools were averaging in the low-to-mid 400 basis points range at the time of the presentation.

After extended discussion about compensation methodology and other line items, a motion to table final action on the budget to Sept. 16 passed on a recorded 6–0 vote. The council asked staff to provide: a redacted list of civilian positions with each position’s current step, the pay-plan policy used in 2019 (and subsequent updates), and the salary-survey presentation that produced the current benchmarking results.

Mayor Brown and council members said they support funding the most urgent items recommended by staff — notably the police and fire market adjustments and certain one-time equipment purchases — but want the requested documentation before final adoption.

The council also discussed a set of one-time capital purchases and supplemental requests (including grounds-maintenance equipment and replacement of stolen water-equipment items) and the city manager noted that funding those one-time items from fund balance would still leave reserves well above the city’s policy minimums (60 days for the general fund and 45 days for the water fund). Blackwell reiterated that some capital projects remain contingent on outside appropriations and grants from county or federal sources.

The council did not take further formal action at the meeting and set final consideration of the budget for Sept. 16, when staff plans to submit the requested pay-step listings and related materials.