Conroe City Council proposed a $122 million general fund budget for fiscal year 2023-24 during a second budget workshop July 20 that would include holding the tax rate steady at $0.4272 per $100 valuation. The budget draft is preliminary as City Council will not vote on the budget until September, city officials said during the workshop.

What’s happening

Collin Boothe, director of finance and assistant city administrator, proposed a draft budget during a July 20 budget workshop meeting. The budget includes a shortfall of $1.4 million.

Council also discussed the possibility of calling a bond election that could help pay for various capital improvement projects. According to previous reporting, the cost of the Hyatt Regency Conroe and Convention Center that opened in May was attributed as the reason council members first brought up the idea to fund high-priority projects. According to previous reporting, the hotel exceeded the city budget after seven contract revisions to increase the guaranteed maximum pricing with council approving a $5.1 million cash infusion three days before the opening of the hotel.

City officials said a bond election could be called for November or May, according to previous reporting.

By the numbers

Council discussed possibly forgoing staff raises and decreasing fine arts funding as well as funding of the Montgomery County Veterans Service Commission as a way to balance the budget.

Highlights from the draft general fund budget presented include:

• $122.23 million in total revenue
• $123.63 million in total expenditures
• A 6.6% increase in revenue from the approved FY 2022-23 budget
• A 1.8% increase in expenditures from the approved FY 2022-23 budget

How we got here

According to previous reporting, Conroe fired its long-term city administrator and director of finance during the budget season for FY 2022-23. During the deliberation of canceling the contracts, council members cited a lack of transparency as their reasoning for the termination.

During the July 20 workshop meeting, Council Member Marsha Porter cited the lack of transparency from the previous administration as to why the city is projecting a tight budget for the next fiscal year.

Quote of note

“From a staff perspective, ... understand [that] I get you. Understand I know how hard you’re working; we are all going to have to pitch in this year. We are asking you to do more with less, but please bear with us—we are going to do the very best we can, and if we do this together, I think we will all be in better shape,” Council Member Harry Hardman said during the July 20 workshop meeting.