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Rowlett city manager previews FY2025 budget; council asks about code compliance, website redesign and Miller Bridge
Summary
At an Aug. 19 work session the city manager reviewed the proposed FY2025 budget, saying no substantive changes had been made since last week. Council members pressed for clarity on a full website redesign, the need for a second code-compliance officer, inclusion of two project managers, and potential funding for Miller Bridge improvements; no votes were taken.
The Rowlett City Manager presented the proposed fiscal year 2025 budget at a work session on Aug. 19, saying the document is largely unchanged since it was presented to council last week and asking for any additional feedback prior to adoption.
“Really, the purpose of this session is to receive additional feedback,” the City Manager said, noting there have been multiple prior public sessions. He added the staff had not made “any substantive substantive changes to the budget since it was presented to you.”
Council members raised several operational and capital questions. One council member asked whether the city’s list of 25 budget enhancements included a full redesign of the city website or only an economic-development site. The City Manager answered that a full redesign was scheduled, administratively approved and is included in the budget.
Another extended exchange focused on code compliance staffing. A council member asked whether the proposed budget should add a second code compliance officer in addition to the one already included. The City Manager responded that the department has absorbed additional inspection duties (including multifamily inspections), is operating largely reactively, and that data and metrics are not yet fully vetted. He said staff will monitor the situation, provide a midyear update and—if needed—return to council with a request for a midyear amendment to add a position.
On capital staffing, the City Manager told the council he plans to place two project-manager positions into a fiscal-year-2024 modification so they will carry into FY2025 and be included in the final budget version.
A council member asked whether the budget included money to address the Miller Bridge fishing area—whether to keep it open, make improvements or convert it to a park. The City Manager said prioritization would depend on council direction; if the council prioritized the project, staff could identify seed money from reserves, debt or bond proceeds or seek a midyear adjustment, but that the timeline could take many months and require coordination with Dallas.
On an unrelated capital question, council members asked whether the recent Castle Drive asphalt rehab could be made a permanent program. The City Manager said capital dollars had already been appropriated and decisions about how to spend them were administrative, and that staff would brief council before launching a program.
Earlier in the meeting the council convened into a closed executive session under the Texas Government Code to discuss several economic-development projects and attorney consultation; the presiding officer reported the session ended with no action taken. The work session concluded with council pulling items 6c and 6d for individual consideration at the Aug. 20 meeting.
No formal votes or budget adoptions occurred at the Aug. 19 work session.
