Conroe City Council began budget discussion for fiscal year 2025-26 during a July 10 special budget workshop. Key topics were whether to hold city elections independently or through Montgomery County, and how to address ongoing challenges in employee compensation amid city growth and budget constraints.

What you need to know

According to the proposed budget presentation, holding the May 2026 city election independently would cost $840,879, which includes the purchase of 70 voting machines and staffing costs. However, partnering with the county would cost $220,000, Interim City Secretary Sami Quinlan said.

Mayor Duke Coon advised the council that using the county could create “incremental savings,” however, other council members believed that the city holding its own election allows for fair voting opportunities.

“If you remember the last election, the county didn't have machines," council member Marsha Porter said. "They didn't have enough workers. And this is essentially what was instrumental.”

Council member David Hairel said the previous election created chaos for voters, with medical incidents that required ambulance services due to the weather and long wait lines.

“I think the value of us controlling our own destiny in elections is very valuable,” Hairel said. "Remember that election day last time we had six machines at the location where I was, the lines were out the door for hours. It was hot. ... It was a total fiasco.”

Council member Howard Wood said proper planning is the key and could help reduce costs even if the city handles elections itself.

Diving in deeperCoon said no raises were originally proposed in the budget, but council members pushed back, citing high workloads and staffing shortages.

“I cannot recommend hiring police recommendations [only]. It must be equal,” Porter said. “If possible, we either give everybody everything or we don’t give anybody anything.”

Options discussed during the meeting included:

• A 6% cost-of-living adjustment, which would cost the city $4.3 million across all funds
• A 5.5% merit increase paired with police and fire STEP program raises
• STEP program increases, which provides structured raises to civil service employees, and would cost $1.1 million and impact 313 employees; to match that for 420 non-civil service employees, a 5-5.5% merit raise was proposed at a cost of about $1.5 million

Ultimately, the council requested more detailed scenarios and cost breakdowns to review at a future meeting.

Before you go

Gibbs said challenges facing the FY 2025-26 budget include the moratorium, water and sewer capital improvement plan projects, the Hyatt Regency Conroe Hotel, rising debt levels, infrastructure maintenance and the potential challenges of increased taxes and fees.