At a Sept. 18 meeting of Bellaire City Council, the governing body voted to approve setting the city's budget for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

What happened?

Bellaire's Chief Financial Officer Terrence Beaman presented the proposed budget to council members before it was unanimously approved by vote.

Sorting out the details

Beaman noted there are four objectives "baked into" the fiscal year 2023-24 budget:

• To advance City Council's goals
• To meet legal requirements
• To hold the nominal tax rate flat
• To maintain structurally a balanced budget and reserves

"We did not meet that objective, technically," Beaman said of the goal of maintaining a flat tax rate.

The breakdown

The budget includes a tax rate of $0.4370 per $100 valuation, an increase of $0.0103 from FY 2022-23.

The budget highlights $4.66 million for the following capital improvement projects:

• Water line, valve and hydrant replacements
• Wastewater line replacements
• Wastewater treatment plant improvements
• Building plans and improvements
• Park improvements
• Traffic, street and sidewalk improvements

FY 2023-24 will start with an enterprise fund of $191,800.

What's next?

Ahead of the vote, Mayor Andrew Friedberg said there will be a second vote on the FY 2023-24 tax rate to follow.

"As noted under the Texas local government code, two separate votes are required. First is the adoption of the FY [2023-]24 budget by record vote, and then second, should the budget be so adopted, we'll need to vote to ratify the tax reflected in the budget," he said.

This will occur via a public hearing on Oct. 2.