City Council - Special Meeting

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

On the Texas flag, I pledge allegiance to the Texas, one state, under God, one indivisible.

Thank you. Please be seated. Once he sees the invocation, I do not see a reverend in the audience. Do I have any volunteers? Anybody feeling so moved? Nick, go ahead.

Let us pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and have each and every one of us do our civic duty with your will in mind.

Amen. Thanks, sir. These are participation. Anyone wish to speak on any item, fill out a form right there by the chief, he's got them for. Unless it is a public hearing, I will call for folks to speak. You don't need to fill out a form for public hearing. I will call for that at a certain time, so stay tuned. 2A, presentations and recognitions. Gabe, anything?

No presentations. I want to recognize and thank everybody, including you all who have been a part of the budget process. Happy to be close to the end here, and everything went, I think, pretty smoothly this year.

Many thanks to Kim and Elizabeth on their hard work, many months of hard work. All right. Going forward, we're at 3. So at 6.01 for the public hearing, this is a continuation of the public hearing fiscal year 2026-2027 proposed budget. Kim, what do we need to cover on this? Anything?

No, sir. Just have the public hearing.

OK. Any comments, questions from council on last chance public hearing for the budget? Anything anybody wants to bring up? There's a public hearing. It is open to the audience. Anyone who wishes to speak at this time, happily, you can come forward. You don't need to fill out a form. All right. Seeing none, at 6.02, I take us out of the public hearing. At 6.02, we're back in the public hearing. Public hearing proposed 2026 property tax rate for the fiscal year 2026-2027. Kim, what do you want to say on this one?

No, sir. No presentation. We've already gone over everything. It's just a required step in adopting a tax rate.

Any question on the tax rate, folks from council? If not, against the public hearing, it is open to the audience. Anyone from the audience who wishes to speak on that at this time, you are certainly welcome to. Seeing none, that is 6-0-2. It is out of the public hearing. Moving on to 4, consideration regarding Resolution 2026-09, adoption of the fiscal year 2026-2027 budget. Kim.

Again, no presentation.

Okay. Any final questions, consideration for this budget? Council. If not, I will entertain a motion.

Mayor, I make a motion. We approve the Resolution 2026-9, adoption of the fiscal year budget 2026-2027. I'll second. I'll second.

We're not getting anything to vote yet. Yeah, we're not getting. Nothing's happening yet. Any other? Okay. All those in favor, raise your right hand. Motion passes. Moving on, 4B, consideration of action to ratify property tax rate increase in the 2026-27 budget. Kim?

Again, this is just a legal requirement before we adopt the tax rate.

Okay. Now, there's no wording we have to say for this one, correct?

No, sir. That's the next item. Okay.

Council, any questions on 4B? If not, we'll entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor, I make a motion we approve 4B as presented.

Thank you, Sean.

Do I have a second? Nick, second? Okay, there we go. Cast your vote. Motion passes. 4C, consideration of action regarding Ordinance 2026-21, adopting and setting a property tax rate for the 2026 tax year.

Any questions on this one?

Questions, comments on the tax rate? Last chance. All in, all done? Then for 4C, I will entertain a motion for 4C, and as the motion must be stated, as presented on your screens.

Mayor, I'll make a motion. We approve ordinance number 2026-21, set the tax rate of 58.6649 cents. INS at 25.1448 and M&O at 33.5201. This rate is a reflection of the fiscal year 2026-2027 proposed budget. You got to say the yellow stuff down at the bottom, Paul. Oh. Scroll up. Okay. I move that the property tax rate be increased by the adopted of the tax rate of 0.586649, which is effectively a 6.94 increase in the tax rate.

All right. Do I have a second? Brack, second? Please cast your votes. Motion passes. Thank you, folks. 4D, consideration of action regarding Ordinance 2026-22, waste and wastewater sewer rates. Kim, anything you want to add on this one?

No, sir. These are just the rates included in the now adopted budget.

Okay.

And you can read on here what it says, wastewater increase of 3.25%. Again, we work with the city of Fort Worth. That's where we buy our water and where we send our wastewater. We have mitigated some of their proposed increase per our budget, so keep the increase as easy as we can on our folks. But it is an increase based on our dealings with the city of Fort Worth.

Any questions, comments on 4D?

If not, I will entertain a motion.

Mr. Mayor, I move. approve 4E Ordinance 2026-22, Water and Boat Farmer Sewerage Servicer.

Second. Second. Mr. Johnson, please cast your vote. Motion passes. 4E, consideration of action regarding Ordinance 2026-25, amending the master fee schedule by amending the fee changes reflected in the fiscal year 2026-27 proposed budget. Kim, anything you want to add to this one?

No, sir. Diksha did a really great job at doing a fee study and worked with the appropriate departments. And again, the fees are reflected in the budget.

Excellent. Any questions for Kim on fees?

Does that include the stuff that Vicki talked about at the last council meeting? Is that included? Yes, sir. OK.

If no other questions, I will entertain a motion. Mayor, I make a motion we approve 4E as presented.

4F, Consideration and Action regarding Ordinance 2026 has 23 approval of an increase to the Texas Municipal Retirement System contribution rate from 7% to 8% beginning January 1st, 2027.

Kim, you have anything you want to say about this? I'll say something then.

This is a big one for this budget. This is really the big thing we haven't done before. The state legislature made it available to us a couple years ago to go to 8%. This is a huge help for our employees' retirement. And we actually asked the employees, what would they like to do? Would they like a normal step increase, or would they like this increase to their retirement? And they voted overwhelmingly for this option. So I appreciate that we took it to the employees. They have spoken. I think it's a great choice for them. Long term, this will definitely help them. in their retirement. So it's a cost to us, but it's a cost that would have been borne anyhow, and it's helping our employees.

Any other questions, comments on 4F?

If not, I'll entertain a motion.

Mayor, I make a motion. We approve 4F, consideration action regarding ordinance 2026-23. Thank you, Paul.

Do I have a second? Valerie, second? Please cast your vote. Motion passes. Congratulations, folks. Well done on a budget. Fantastic budget.

A lot of work by the staff went into this, and we really appreciate it, folks.

I don't believe there's any executive session. All right. Then I will entertain a motion to adjourn.

Second. Sean, second?

Let's catch the votes. Motion passes at 6.09. We are adjourned.