Temple council hears scope of proposed 2025–26 budget and six-year business plan

City Manager Miss Myers presented the proposed fiscal year 2025–26 budget and the six-year business plan during a public hearing at the Temple City Council meeting July 17, outlining major capital projects, new personnel requests and revenue pressures facing the city.

Myers said the budget is the last year of the city’s first six-year business plan, a framework the council first adopted in 2019. “This planning effort helps us show how one piece fits into the bigger picture,” Myers said, describing the plan’s five focus areas: high-performing organization, communication and collaboration, places and spaces, smart growth, and health and safety.

Myers told council the city has passed 100,000 residents and ranks among the fastest-growing U.S. cities. She detailed a long list of proposed capital projects including street reconstructions, multiple mobility projects (Henderson Street right-of-way acquisitions; Salisbury sidewalks; Wren Road extension; MLK/Avenue M intersection improvements), utility CIP work (initial phase of the aquifer storage and recovery system, an ~8 MG expansion to a surface water treatment plant, and multiple water-storage-tank rehabilitations) and continued sanitary sewer interceptor work including phases of the Knob Creek project.

The manager proposed multiple operational additions tied to growth: public-safety capital and operating expansions (three new fire stations with related staffing and a second battalion), added pavement preservation funding (goal about $1.7 million per year for slurry seal), added crews across transportation and utilities, and new solid-waste residential and commercial routes phased into 2026 and later years. Myers said the plan includes bringing some contracted water-treatment work back in-house and staffing for the aquifer storage and recovery system.

Myers flagged a significant revenue pressure from the state’s disabled veterans property tax exemption program. She said the city’s net loss from the exemption reached about $3.3 million in 2025 and could grow sharply if current trends continue. “We were essentially eligible for about 15¢ on the dollar of what we actually lose,” she said, adding that Temple’s loss is a substantial share of the state’s $9 million reimbursement pool.

Council discussed next steps and directed staff to make adjustments based on the council’s direction; Myers said staff will return with revised numbers and possibly an additional special workshop. The public hearing was opened and closed; no final budget vote occurred at the July 17 meeting.

Speakers at the meeting included City Manager Miss Myers and multiple council members who participated in the workshop discussion. Comments from members of the public during the hearing included questions about proposed fees and timing of collection.

The council will review the staff-adjusted proposal at an upcoming workshop and will consider formal adoption later this summer.