Sugar Land’s budget raises CIP spending by $13 million

Sugar Land’s budget expenditures increased by $21.5 million for fiscal year 2016-17 compared to the FY 2015-16 budget. City Council unanimously approved the $259.2 million budget Sept. 20, along with an unchanged adopted property tax rate.

Sugar Land Finance Director Jennifer Brown said a major driver of the increase is an additional nearly $13 million allocated for capital improvement program projects.

“We got almost $27 million in street projects,” Brown said, adding that $15.7 million is allotted for drainage projects.

The city’s operational budget increased by about 5.2 percent from $166.4 million in FY 2015-16 to $175.1 million in FY 2016-17. Brown said operational expenses rose in part because the city has taken on maintenance of the Brazos River Park expansion and festival site.

“We’re taking on the maintenance and operations of those in the new budget year, and so we’ve added about $500,000 in total costs, including the staffing,” Brown said.

The city added about nine staff members. The city spends $48.9 million on about 723 full-time employee salaries.

The city also maintained an adopted property tax rate of $0.31595 per $100 valuation. The effective tax rate increased by 3.75 percent to $0.30454 per $100 valuation.