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Council reviews FY25–26 budget follow-ups, including cemetery road repair options and employee pay question
Summary
In a budget hearing, staff presented options to repair cemetery roads (costs ranging $95,000–$287,000), outlined the fiscal impact of giving every employee at least $1/hour on top of a 4.5% across‑the‑board adjustment, and deferred final decisions pending further analysis and a pavement-management study.
City staff presented follow-up information during the first public hearing on the proposed Fiscal Year 2025–26 budget, highlighting two topics council asked to revisit: a citywide pay adjustment and repair options for roadways in the Lockhart City Cemetery.
Finance and administrative staff explained the budget includes a 4.5% across-the-board wage adjustment. Staff said adding a minimum $1-per-hour increase for every employee on top of the 4.5% would cost approximately $130,000 in the general fund (bringing the combined general-fund personnel cost to an estimated $574,000 for the supplemental increase) and that additional recurring funds would need to be identified to cover that long-term commitment.
Staff also presented three one-time options to address cemetery roads: a $95,000 2-inch mill-and-overlay focused on the newest, most-used section; a $127,000 mill-and-overlay that includes the main entry and primary internal travelways; and a $287,000 package that covers additional paved areas where pavement is failing. Staff recommended that any chosen option be packaged with other city street work in a competitive bid. The proposed funding source for any of these one-time repairs would be the city’s street-maintenance allocation in the general-fund balance.
Councilmembers asked about the irrigation and water-line maintenance that has produced recurring breaks and the need to balance pavement improvements with long-term drainage and irrigation repairs. Public Works staff said the newest cemetery sections have newer PVC piping and a separate meter; older sections have aging water lines and numerous hose-bib locations that drive maintenance needs.
Several council members favored preparing a 3–5 year capital plan for cemetery improvements and said they preferred not to commit large sums from fund balance without a holistic plan; others urged at least a smaller immediate repair for the busiest cemetery areas. Staff said the pavement-management-system assessment underway will produce a citywide prioritization and that staff will return with a refined proposal at the September 2 meeting. The council made no budget changes at the hearing.
