The breakdown
Keller officials were presented the proposed budget at a work session meeting Aug. 27.
City staff have proposed an operating budget of $110.6 million for the upcoming fiscal year, according to the presentation, and is scheduled for adoption Sept. 16.
The proposed budget will decrease by more than $4 million from the previous fiscal year. City Manager Aaron Rector said most of the funds will go toward the general fund and the water and wastewater fund.
“We’ve had a lot of big projects lately, so this is kind of getting back to a maintenance and operationally focused budget,” Rector said.
Diving in deeper
Under the proposed budget, the city would have a $0.287 tax rate for FY 2025-26. This is a 0.004-cent decrease from the previous fiscal year's tax rate of $0.291. City officials said the property tax would fall to $1,374 for a $478,600 house in Keller with this rate, which includes a 20% homestead exemption.
This would be the seventh consecutive year where the city lowers property tax rates for its residents, Rector said.
The proposed general fund, which makes up about 42% of the total operating budget, will increase personnel services by 3% compared to the last fiscal year. Rector said utility and software costs also contributed to an increase for the “services and other” portion of the budget.
Looking forward
The city is expecting to be in debt in three years, according to presentation estimations. Rector said the city will start planning with staff to figure out what options there are to work with this debt.
“This is a conservative look at things,” Rector said. “As we continue down this path of minimizing revenue growth and our expenditures continue to increase, eventually we’re going to have to address that.”
