Abilene council approves first reading of 2026 budget, sets tax levy; resident urges greater transparency

The Abilene City Council on the morning of a special meeting approved on first reading the proposed 2025–26 budget and set the tax levy on first reading, voting unanimously after a staff presentation and a public comment urging greater budget transparency.

City staff member Marjorie reviewed revisions made after an earlier session and said the changes cut the combined city tax rate by 0.0101, a reduction she summarized as “about a penny decrease.” Marjorie said, “This decreased our tax rate to 0.7506 per $100 of value. It's about a penny decrease. Previously, it was 0.7607.” She also said the maintenance-and-operations (M&O) portion of the rate fell 0.0114 while the debt-service rate rose 0.0013, and that the change is the equivalent of $10.10 per $100,000 of home value.

Marjorie said staff adjusted the budget to move $1,000,000 into the Rebuild Abilene program for 2026 and updated the Minor Improvement Project (MIP) fund. She reported a revised 2025 surplus and transfers that raised the MIP’s revised surplus by $2,200,000 to a total of $7,200,000 and said the MIP’s ending fund balance is now $4,970,000. Marjorie described minor revenue offsets to balance the general fund after those transfers.

During the public hearing, Tammy Fogle, a resident of Abilene, commended staff for the packet and the presentation but pressed council for more detail on program- and service-level budgets that she said are not visible outside the MIP line items. “The thing I do not have access to is the program and services offered, and that's in the budget in generic forms,” Fogle said. She also asked the council to discuss debt, saying “we should be talking about debt because yesterday, it was mentioned as one of the more significant parts of our tax rate.” The public hearing closed with no other speakers.

Councilman Beard moved to pass the proposed 2025–26 budget on first reading; Councilman Price seconded. The council voted unanimously; the meeting record shows “All yes’s. Motion carries.” For the tax levy item, Councilman Yates moved and Councilman Craver seconded; that motion also passed unanimously with the same recorded outcome.

Council members confirmed the ordinance will return for a second reading in August. No formal action on program-level cuts or a detailed debt presentation was recorded at the meeting; Fogle’s request that debt be discussed was noted during public comment but not acted on at this session.

The council adjourned after brief closing remarks thanking staff for work on the budget revisions.