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Keller council begins FY27 budget planning, flags sidewalk costs and phone-system upgrade
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Summary
City staff reviewed FY26 numbers and council strategic goals as the city begins FY27 budget work; officials noted a $111.3 million FY26 budget, a $47 million general fund and rising sidewalk costs (estimated $15/sq ft) that will pressure next year’s allocation.
City staff opened a work session on April 21 to begin planning the city of Keller’s FY27 budget, laying out strategic goals and preliminary revenue and expenditure guidance.
Staff said the FY26 adopted budget totaled $111,300,000, including a roughly $47,000,000 general fund. The presentation framed six council strategic goals—’elevate family life,’ ‘attract vibrant development,’ ‘demonstrate fiscal discipline,’ ‘improve and maintain sound infrastructure,’ ‘put people first,’ and ‘expand citizen engagement’—as the foundation for FY27 priorities, and announced a council strategic session tentatively scheduled for June 19.
On revenues, staff recommended conservative sales-tax growth assumptions and reiterated the council’s recent revenue-rate decision aimed at limiting year-to-year property-tax increases. Council members asked staff to produce a slide comparing the proportion of sales tax and ad valorem revenue over the same multi-year timeframe; staff agreed to provide that analysis.
Sidewalk funding drew repeated attention. Staff said the city uses a policy of increasing sidewalk budget roughly 10% per year. Council and staff cited the current sidewalk allocation at about $358,000 and said next-year planning is near $400,000. Staff provided unit-cost detail: the contract rate cited was $15 per square foot, which equates to $75 per linear foot for a 5-foot-wide sidewalk. Councilmembers noted that ramps and other ADA work (estimated at about $2,500 per ramp pair) consume a sizable share of the line item.
The presentation also covered personnel costs—staff said roughly two-thirds of the general fund is personnel-related—and the city’s five-year CIP, with projects such as Old Towne Keller, Mount Gilead Road and Johnson Road Park highlighted for continued funding consideration. Staff said departments are preparing budgets now and that mini-sessions on topics including economic development and sales tax will run through August.
On operations, staff described a pending telephone-system replacement that would modernize voicemail, allow office phones to ring to staff cell phones, provide voicemail-to-email and desktop faxing, and add other features; staff said there are two vendor options under review and expected a final recommendation soon.
The council scheduled further budget work and public hearings; staff noted the compensation committee has met and will continue work before any salary adjustments are proposed.
The council did not take a formal budget-approval vote at the session; this was an initial work session to set priorities and request further analysis.
