Bee Cave holds FY26 budget public hearing; council proposes 2¢ tax rate and discusses $1M transfer for public safety facility

Bee Cave held a public hearing on Sept. 9 on its proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and related tax rate. Staff presented updated revenue, expense and staffing estimates and answered council questions about new requests and capital needs.

Sronsky, a finance staff member presenting the budget materials, summarized key assumptions including position adjustments effective Oct. 1 and a 4% merit pool effective Jan. 1. The staff presentation assumed vacancies and conservative sales‑tax revenue; staff projected year‑end balances and included a $1,000,000 transfer to debt service to cover principal and interest for the public safety facility.

During the tax‑rate discussion, Aske (staff) told the council, "I think it's important to say we are not proposing any change to the tax rate," and the council moved to propose a 2¢ rate for 2025. The motion to propose the 2¢ rate carried unanimously.

Council and staff also discussed significant equipment requests in the capital fund, including a large estimated cost for replacement radios. Staff reported they are meeting with a Motorola representative to pin down a final price and that leasing options (quoted at around 5.66% in initial materials) and other procurement approaches will be analyzed before appropriation. Council directed staff to include details and refined estimates with the final appropriation schedule.

The public hearing closed after a few resident comments about radio leasing and communications for street work; the council will consider final budget adoption at its next meeting with updated sales‑tax allocations and refined equipment quotes.