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Finance director outlines 2026–27 budget basics; tax-rate terminology explained
Summary
Finance Director Kim Quinn told the council the city’s revised budget is just under $85 million, reviewed fund structure and the difference between maintenance & operations and interest & sinking rates, and highlighted key schedule dates including certified values from Tarrant Appraisal District and a July 10 preliminary proposed budget.
At a Saginaw City Council budget workshop, Finance Director Kim Quinn provided a high-level review of the upcoming 2026–27 budget process and explained the technical terminology the council will use over the summer.
Quinn said the city’s current-year revised budget includes ‘‘just under $85,000,000’’ in budgeted expenditures and noted the largest shares are the general fund and debt service (about 44% combined) and capital projects (about 21%). She explained the city maintains 13 separate fund-level budgets to keep specific revenue sources and their legally required uses separate and to comply with generally accepted accounting principles.
Quinn walked the council through the components of the property tax rate, saying the rate is composed of a maintenance and operations (M&O) portion that funds general services (police, fire, library, recreation and administration) and an interest-and-sinking (I&S) portion that covers debt. "We're currently at 58 to 42," Quinn said when showing the split, and the current combined rate is "just under 53¢" according to her presentation.
She reviewed tax-rate constructs the council will encounter in future votes: the no-new-revenue tax rate (the starting point if the city makes no service or revenue changes), the voter-approval tax rate (which factors a 3.5% M&O allowance and would trigger an election if the proposed rate exceeds it), the de minimis tax rate that is used for smaller jurisdictions in some years, and the unused incremental rate that can be banked for up to three years. Quinn also reminded the council of calendar dates: certified values from the Tarrant Appraisal District were expected on the 24th and the city’s preliminary proposed budget was scheduled to be provided to the secretary on July 10; staff will follow with fund-by-fund workshops and a CIP update in July.
Quinn closed by inviting more detailed, one-on-one review with council members as staff builds the proposed budget and said the schedule will include at least two required public hearings on the tax rate as required by truth-in-taxation laws.
