Katy City Council approved its fiscal year 2025-26 budget with a focus on public safety.

Zooming in

At a Sept. 22 meeting, City Council unanimously approved $74.7 million in expenditures for FY 2025-26, a 5.31% decrease from last year's amended budget.

Additionally, council maintained its property tax rate of $0.425 per $100 valuation for the second consecutive year. The rate is below the no-new-revenue rate of $0.430707 per $100, according to budget documents.

The budget and tax rate were initially proposed at an Aug. 25 meeting, with officials saying they still expected tax revenue to increase from FY 2024-25 due to the influx of new properties and increasing property valuations.

Diving in deeper

The budget includes $55.21 million toward the city’s general fund, with 47.04% allocated to public safety services, including $14.56 million for the police department and $11.41 million for the fire department.

The budget also lays out $5.61 million in capital improvement investments for FY 2025-26, including:

• $1.8 million for an Impel Quint firetruck
• $1.5 million for substations at Texas Heritage Marketplace
• $438,800 for four new police Chevy Tahoes
• $110,000 for two new fire department vehicles

An additional $1.45 million for improvement projects will be funded by the city's enterprise fund, which is paid for by the city's water utility fees. Projects include an $800,000 generator and lift pumps for Plant 3 and $202,550 for water meter replacement.

What’s next?

The FY 2025-26 budget will begin Oct. 1 and run through Sept. 30, 2026, according to budget documents.