Cleburne staff present FY2026 budget; council sets intent to consider 0.612548 tax rate and schedules hearings
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Summary
City staff presented the proposed FY2026 budget and recommended a tax rate of 0.612548 per $100 of assessed value. Council accepted the certified appraisal roll, scheduled public hearings and approved employee benefit plan changes; council voted 4-1 to state intent to consider the voter-approval tax rate.
City staff presented the proposed fiscal year 2026 budget and recommended the City Council consider a proposed tax rate of 0.612548 per $100 of assessed value at a future adoption meeting.
Finance staff reported certified taxable values just above $4.0 billion and noted year-over-year growth of about $297 million (7.2%), of which roughly $182 million reflected new construction. Staff described the "no-new-revenue" and "voter approval" rate calculations and said the voter-approval rate of 0.612548 would yield about $23.2 million in property-tax revenue compared with roughly $22.1 million at the no-new-revenue rate.
The council took multiple preliminary actions required by state law: it accepted the certified appraisal roll and the calculation worksheets and voted to state its intent to adopt a tax rate not to exceed 0.612548 at the regularly scheduled September 9 meeting. That intent resolution passed 4-1; a roll-call vote was recorded for the intent resolution.
Staff also reviewed major budget drivers: continued investment in capital projects (streets, water and wastewater), replacement vehicles, a proposed compensation and classification study, and personnel changes that staff recommended. The proposed budget assumes a 1% cost-of-living adjustment to city employees and includes requests for 12 full-time positions and two part-time positions in several departments; staff said additional detail on personnel and supplementals is in the budget packet.
Council scheduled the public hearing on the FY2026 budget for Aug. 26 and the tax-rate hearing for Sept. 9 and approved advertising of those hearings in the Cleburne Times-Review.
On benefits, council approved proposed employee benefit plan changes for plan year 2025-26, including maintaining medical coverage with Cigna subject to a negotiated rate cap and introducing a $20-per-month employee contribution for one HSA option. The benefit changes passed unanimously.
City staff said sales tax and ad valorem growth are providing revenue increases but warned that some recent increases reflected late tax collections and that the HOT fund contractual obligations (79% to the CVB) constrain discretionary spending from that fund. Staff identified a projected dip into fund balance for some HOT scenarios if council funds all requests discussed during the meeting.
