South Padre Island council accepts capital projects, acknowledges budget filing, approves tax-rate notice and authorizes hotel-occupancy tax contract

The City of South Padre Island City Council on an agenda meeting accepted the city’s capital improvement plan submission, acknowledged filing of the proposed 2025–26 budget, approved a resolution to publish notice of a proposed tax rate and authorized the city manager to negotiate a contract for hotel-occupancy tax reporting and collection.

Hilda Delgado, administration and claims coordinator for the city, presented the capital improvement plan (CIP) and said the submission fulfills a Home Rule Charter requirement. “I’m officially here to submit our capital improvement plan, which is required under Section 5.09 of the Home Rule Charter,” Delgado said. A councilmember moved to accept the submission; there was a second, members said “aye,” and the motion carried.

Rodrigo (staff member) presented the proposed 2025–26 budget and described required procedural filings. He told the council the city received certified values from the appraisal district showing an overall 1.5% increase compared with the prior fiscal year and that the proposed property-tax rate is below the voter-approval tax rate. Rodrigo said the filing meets the charter’s 60-day submission requirement and the Local Government Code provision cited in the presentation. The council voted to acknowledge the budget filing.

The council then approved Resolution No. 2020Five-nine — presented as the resolution to publish notice of the proposed 2025 tax rate — so the city may run the statutorily required public notice before a rate decision. Councilmembers voted “aye,” and the motion carried.

On a procurement item, the council authorized the city manager to enter into a contract with the firm that scored highest on an RFP to provide hotel-occupancy tax reporting, collection and administration services. Staff said four companies submitted proposals and that the top-scoring firm was also the lowest bidder. Staff noted the company currently handles short-term rental registration for the city and that the proposed contract would consolidate registration and tax collection into a single system; another vendor currently handles collection. A councilmember moved to authorize the manager to execute the contract; there was a second and the motion carried.

What happens next: staff told the council that a public hearing on the budget and the resolution will be on the council agenda for Aug. 20, and that a special meeting likely will be needed on Aug. 29 to act on the property tax rate because of an Aug. 30 legislative change noted in the presentation. No final tax-rate vote was recorded at this meeting.

The meeting included a brief condolence to Mayor McNulty, who was absent because a family member died, and adjourned after the listed items.