Missouri City staff present proposed fiscal 2026 budget; property tax rate held at 0.570825

Bertha Alexander, the city's chief budget and performance officer, presented the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget to the Missouri City Council at a council workshop, saying the plan keeps the city's current property tax rate at 0.570825 while shifting about one cent from operations to debt service to cover principal and interest on a 2021 bond authorization.

"Our focus is transparency and ensuring everyone understands not just the numbers, but the why behind the numbers," Alexander said, describing a budget built around priority-based budgeting, a five-year plan and a 5 percent department-level reduction target used to reallocate about $1 million in efficiencies.

The proposed all-sources budget totals about $258 million, up 15.6 percent from $223 million the prior year, according to Alexander. General Fund revenue is projected to rise about 8 percent; property taxes would remain the largest single revenue source at roughly 61.9 percent of general-fund revenue. The presentation shows the increase reflects new growth and higher assessed values, with a 4.4 percent increase in property-tax revenue and double-digit growth in sales tax and permit revenue.

City Manager Shashi told the council the package was "scrubbed as much as possible" and that holding the overall tax rate steady required shifting the distribution between maintenance & operations and debt service. "We kept the rate the same, but you will see that our maintaining that current rate put us from 46 to 45," Shashi said, referring to the M&O component.

Key allocations and numbers in the proposed budget include: - $11,200,000 for traffic, street and sidewalk repairs (including street repairs, sidewalks, flood damage and street lights). - $745,000 for economic…