Fulshear council delays final vote on FY2026 budget after public hearing on proposed tax increase

Fulshear City Council opened a public hearing on its proposed fiscal year 2026 budget at 12:04 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, at the Fulshear Municipal Complex and voted to postpone final adoption until Monday, Aug. 18, after hearing public comments and staff explanations of the proposed tax-rate change.

The hearing focused on a proposed tax rate of 0.199901 per $100 of valuation, presented by finance staff as 1 cent higher than the voter-approval rate. Erin, a city finance presenter, told the council the no-new-revenue rate is 0.154219, the voter-approval rate is 0.189901 and the proposed rate is 0.199901. The council and staff discussed how the proposed rate splits into a maintenance-and-operations (M&O) component of 0.130601 and an interest-and-sinking (I&S) component of 0.069300; staff said much of the I&S increase is tied to recently approved park bonds and new MUD debt.

Why it matters: staff said the proposed changes would increase property-tax revenue relative to last year and affect city operations, pavement maintenance and police pay. Finance staff also emphasized that roughly 31% of property-tax collections are rebated to local municipal utility districts (MUDs), and that some of the proposed I&S increase reflects debt service on new bonds approved in May.

During the public comment portion, resident Kate Colic said she supported maintaining streets and public safety and said she would accept a small tax increase to fund that work: “For me personally, that's probably gonna add, I don't know, $70 something ish to my tax bill… I'm happy to do that.” Former Mayor Graff, who also spoke during public comment, urged caution on raising the rate without further budget scrutiny, saying he was “concerned that the costs are escalating” and asked the council to reopen priorities and confirm eligibility for the de minimis rate before asking voters for an increase.

Staff presentation and numbers: Aaron Turrow, introduced as the city’s director of finance, and Erin explained that if the council adopts a rate above the voter-approval rate it would trigger an election; they also noted the city’s estimated new-tax revenue from values added to the roll this year and that the proposed budget document states it will raise $2,533,656.09 more in total property taxes than last year. Staff advised the council that the parks bond will increase I&S in future years (staff estimated a fully loaded parks-bond effect at roughly 0.018672) and that the I&S component shown for FY2026 (0.069300) reflects only next fiscal year’s anticipated debt service. Staff reported the general fund ending fund balance under the current proposal at about $6,797,694 (roughly 35% of operating expenditures) and said the budget as presented is balanced; they added that the budget balances without the proposed police salary increases and the portion of preventative street maintenance that could not be funded out of cash.

Council questions and staff follow ups: council members pressed staff for more detail on the split of the roughly $715,000 increment shown in hearings materials (staff said they would break the amount into M&O and I&S components for the next meeting). Council members also asked for clarification on the city’s current population figure and eligibility for the de minimis tax rate; staff said the city’s published population is above 30,000 and that the de minimis option would not produce the same revenue as the proposed increase.

Formal action: Council member Tim Johnson moved to postpone final adoption of the FY2026 budget until Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. The motion was seconded by Council member Kanopy and passed by voice vote; Council member Barron was absent. (The council’s roll call at the meeting recorded Council member Miller, Mayor Pro Tem Tim Johnson, Council member Powers, the Mayor, Council member Russell, Council member Utakar and Council member Kanopy as present.)

Next steps: staff was asked to provide a detailed breakdown of the proposed revenue change showing what portion is M&O and what portion is I&S, the specific items the anticipated revenues would pay (debt service, pavement preventative treatment, police pay increases), and updated figures for the Aug. 18 agenda. The council reconvenes Monday, Aug. 18, for final consideration.