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 revenues and $371 million in expenditures, a planned $1.8 million use of fund balance and an ending fund balance near $90 million.

Knight and other staff detailed fund-level highlights: the general fund (the city’s largest) was shown at roughly $138 million in revised 2025 revenues and $140 million in expenditures with the 2026 proposed general fund at almost $141 million balanced; personnel costs account for about 73% of general fund spending. Knight also presented a proposed citywide tax rate increase from 0.7607 to 0.7675 per $100 valuation (a $6.80 annual impact on a $100,000 home), a change driven largely by debt-service increases, she said.

The budget discussion included debate about whether to treat the sales-tax bump as recurring or one-time money and how to program the MIP transfers. Some council members urged using surplus funds for taxpayer relief; others favored earmarking the funds for projects like the Rebuild ABI infill program. Council ultimately approved a motion to adopt the revised 2025 budget that includes the $2.2 million transfer to MIP. Councilman Blaise Price moved the motion and Councilman Beard seconded; the motion carried (individual roll-call votes were not read aloud).

The council also approved the proposed fee schedule and fee ordinance on first reading. That ordinance encompasses changes to building-permit fees, some code-compliance fees, stormwater and water/sewer fees and a schedule of other user fees; the first-reading motion was moved by Councilman Craver and seconded by Councilman Yates and passed.

City Manager Emily Crawford and Knight repeatedly emphasized that certified values from the appraisal district — due on July 24 — and one more month of sales-tax data will be used to refine the tax-rate recommendation before the council takes final action. Knight said the second and final reading of the budget is scheduled for the council’s Aug. 14 regular meeting. Council postponed items tied to final tax-rate adoption and the 2026 budget (items 4 and 5 on the agenda) for a follow-up session the next morning so staff could recalculate options with the most recent valuation and sales-tax numbers.

“Would you like us to consider the option of the non retroactive COLA?” the city manager asked during a separate pension discussion; council declined to adopt the TMRS change at this meeting and asked staff to return later with options (see separate article).

Tammy Fogel, a member of the public who identified herself as “Tammy Fogel, president of Abilene,” urged the council to consider tax relief for residents, telling council: “I would encourage you to give the citizens a little bit of their money back rather than just moving forward and adding to the taxes.”

The council’s approvals were procedural first steps: the revised 2025 budget with the $2.2 million MIP transfer and the fee ordinance first reading were approved at the meeting; final budget readings and any tax-rate changes will require additional council action after staff completes value and revenue recalculations.

Votes at a glance: - Revised 2025 budget (include $2.2M July sales-tax surplus transferred to MIP): moved by Councilman Blaise Price; seconded by Councilman Beard; outcome: approved (council recorded “motion carries”; no roll-call totals read aloud). - Fee ordinance (proposed fee schedule changes) — first reading: moved by Councilman Craver; seconded by Councilman Yates; outcome: approved (first reading).

Ending: Council members instructed staff to return with recalculated figures after certified appraisal values and the remaining sales-tax data are available; second and final readings of budget items are scheduled for the Aug. 14 regular meeting unless council takes other direction at the follow-up session.