New Braunfels City Manager Robert Camareno presented the proposed fiscal year 2024-25 budget to City Council on Aug. 5, highlighting a balanced budget and a minor adjustment to the tax rate for the coming fiscal year.

The breakdown

For FY 2024-25, the proposed tax rate is set at $0.4089 per $100 valuation. This rate remains effectively flat compared to the previous fiscal year, with a shift of half a penny from the debt service portion to the general fund portion, Camareno said. Specifically, the debt service portion of the tax rate is $0.2039, while the general fund portion is $0.2050.


The proposed budget includes:
  • Total revenues: $210.4 million
  • Total expenditures: $322.6 million
Despite the increase in expenditures, the budget is expected to exceed last year's revenue.

“This is a structurally balanced budget,” Camareno said. “What I mean by that is that recurring revenue is either greater than or equal to recurring expenditures.”
The city plans to utilize its fund balance—or leftover reserves from the prior budget year—to cover one-time costs, maintaining consistency with past practices, Camareno said.




This indicates that the city's ongoing income sources—such as property taxes, sales taxes and other regular revenue streams—would fund the necessary operational costs without relying on one-time funds or reserves, Camareno said.

Camareno outlined significant investments in the budget, including $19 million allocated for new initiatives and strategic investments.

Camareno said key areas of focus include:
  • Employee compensation and benefits
  • Technology improvements
  • Capital improvement projects
  • Public safety enhancements
Terms to know

Since FY 2020, the city's property tax rate has been reduced by about 7.9 cents, Camareno said.




For FY 2024-25, the proposed tax rate of $0.4089 per $100 valuation remains below the voter approval rate of $0.4181, which includes an unused increment rate rolled over from FY 2022-23 and FY 2023-24. This means the council could have proposed a rate as high as $0.4180 without triggering an automatic election, Camareno said.

Additionally, the council could adopt a no-new-revenue tax rate of $0.3982, which would generate the same amount of revenue as the previous year.

Next steps

City council will continue its review of the proposed budget, with public hearings scheduled for Sept. 5.




The final budget adoption is set for Sept. 9, providing an opportunity for residents to engage in the decision-making process.

For further details or to provide feedback, city officials encourage residents to attend the upcoming public hearings.