Bellaire city manager presents $140 million capital plan, staff seeks 3% step raises and utility rate increases

City Manager Sharon Satino presented the City of Bellaire’s proposed fiscal year 2026 budget July 21, saying the total appropriation is “close to $140,000,000,” driven primarily by capital projects and one-time transfers.

Satino said the proposed budget continues the city’s five strategic goals—community, governance, infrastructure and asset management, public safety, and land use—and includes a 3% step increase for eligible employees and a projected 20% rise in medical costs that, together with step pay, the staff estimates will amount to roughly a 4% personnel cost increase overall.

Chief Financial Officer Terrence Beeman reviewed revenue and expenditure assumptions: general fund revenues about $30.8 million, enterprise fund revenues about $16.4 million, and property-tax growth assumptions totaling roughly 5% (3.5% voter-approval rate plus about 1.5% from new construction). The budget assumes a 3% increase in sales tax receipts and modest fee increases. The utility rates follow last year’s rate-study plan: approximately 10% for water, 6% for wastewater and 5% for solid waste in the coming year.

The single largest driver of the higher appropriation is the capital improvements program (CIP). Satino highlighted a jump in capital appropriations and noted the city anticipates receiving about $54 million from the State of Texas that is included in the capital funding plan. Staff proposed reprogramming a previously budgeted line for flood mitigation project management into a broader CIP project-management pool and recommended hiring two outside project-management consultants plus a project coordinator position to augment staff capacity so the city can deliver many simultaneous infrastructure projects.

Staff called out specific recurring and one-time requests included in the proposed budget: a part-time fire marshal; reclassification of a police officer to a sergeant to lead the traffic unit; reclassification of three firefighter-paramedics to engine-operator positions (one per shift); mobile radio replacements for patrol vehicles; purchase of five new police vehicles (including two Ford F-150/Tahoe replacements and three patrol vehicles following the rotation schedule); two air-handler replacements at the recreation center; replacement SCBA (breathing apparatus) and associated monitoring software; a power-load stretcher for the second medic unit; and the normal pulse of funds to the Vehicle, Equipment and Technology (VET) fund for rolling stock replacements. Staff also noted an anticipated engine replacement in FY27 and that acquisition could require a down payment during FY26 depending on financing.

Parks and community items in the proposed budget include opening the recreation center on Sundays (offset by adjusted fees to be revenue neutral), replacing the recreation fitness-room flooring, and funding a number of parks/facilities ADA and master-plan items. The city also proposed a limited number of nonrecurring items such as monumentation-system replacement to improve surveyed home-elevation accuracy and library RFID inventory improvements. Satino noted the budget book includes explanatory notes at the end of each fund to improve transparency about variances from the prior year.

Satino and Beeman told council the next steps are a public hearing and budget workshop on Aug. 11, additional workshops if needed, budget adoption by Sept. 15 and a later public hearing and vote on the tax rate. Councilmembers thanked staff for the documentation and asked to receive questions and answers by email prior to the Aug. 11 workshop.

The presentation did not finalize any appropriations; council scheduled the public hearing and workshops for further review and formal adoption at subsequent meetings.