City Manager presents proposed FY 2025–26 budget; highlights water/sewer rate increases, compensation proposals and capital plans

City Manager Don Magner presented the city manager’s proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget to the Richardson City Council, detailing revenue forecasts, expenditure priorities and next steps for public hearings and adoption.

Magner said he filed the budget and that the council will hold two public hearings: one on the tax rate and one on the budget, with the council scheduled to consider adoption on September 15. He outlined four key budget drivers — global/regional economic uncertainty, supply chain and commodity pressure, workforce and labor shortages, and legislative impacts from the Texas Legislature — and said those factors influenced the proposal.

On utilities, Magner proposed a 6% increase in water and sewer rates. He described the increase as a response to wholesale cost pressures, including a roughly 4% wholesale water increase and a 15.5% increase in sewer treatment costs passed through to the city. Magner said the proposed budget leaves roughly $4 million of FY 2025 year‑end fund balance in the water and sewer fund to help smooth what otherwise would have been a larger…