Abilene council approves revised 2025 budget, moves $2.2M July sales-tax surplus into MIP; fee changes pass first reading

Abilene City Council on Tuesday approved a revised 2025 budget that directs $2.2 million in unexpectedly high July sales-tax receipts into the city’s Minor Improvement Project (MIP) fund and adopted proposed fee changes on first reading, municipal staff said at a special meeting that began at 8:30 a.m.

The move to include the July sales-tax overage in the revised 2025 budget was presented by Marjorie Knight, the city’s director of finance, who told council staff tracked a 65% jump in July sales-tax receipts that translated to about $2,225,000 in additional revenue. Knight said council could either let the extra money roll into next year’s fund balance or increase expenditures and transfer the surplus to MIP; council voted to transfer the money to MIP.

The budget presentation showed citywide figures for the revised 2025 operating budget and the proposed 2026 budget. Knight said the 2025 revised all operating funds estimate is about $356 million in revenues and $364 million in expenditures, a $8 million deficit driven by one-time transfers to project funds (including about $9.9 million to MIP and roughly $12.4 million in transfers for water capital projects). The 2026 proposed operating budget was presented with roughly $369 million in…