Marble Falls’ proposed budget holds the line; same tax rate
Marble Falls is looking at a modest budget for the coming fiscal year, maintaining current services and keeping its tax rate the same amid lagging sales-tax revenue and less-than-expected ad valorem revenue.
The City Council approved a proposed 2025-26 fiscal year budget and proposed tax rate on Tuesday, Aug. 19, starting a countdown to the Sept. 16 public hearing and possible adoption of both.
The proposed budget sees most city departments maintain or reduce their expenses from the 2024-25 fiscal year to the 2025-26 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
“One of our major streams (of revenue) is sales tax,” City Manager Mike Hodge told DailyTrib.com. “What’s happened is that our sales tax revenue has been stagnant. We are used to 2- to 4-percent increases per year, and that is not happening right now.”
Hodge explained that the city typically funds improvements and additions to services with the revenue generated by the steady growth of its sales tax, but with current projections showing a holding pattern in sales-tax revenue, services were kept the same and many upgrades or additions to services were put on hold.
“I don’t think citizens will see any significant difference in services,” he said.
Sales tax is a huge chunk of Marble Falls’ budget, roughly 65 percent most years. In FY 2023-24, the city brought in a whopping $10.92 million in sales tax. The city is projected to see a big jump by the end of FY 2024-25, estimated at $11.26 million, but that doesn’t quite meet the typical growth rate expected by city administration. The proposed budget for FY 2025-26 plans for fairly stagnant sales-tax revenue, predicting $11.38 million for the coming year.
“With the budget (this year), we decided to be as conservative as possible,” Mayor John Packer said. “You’ve got to spend more to keep up (with growth), but my goal as mayor is to keep the tax rate the same or even lower it a little bit.”
The new budget would be funded by a tax rate of $0.5350 per $100 property valuation, which is the same rate from FY 2024-25.
While the tax rate is the same, it would raise more revenue than last year due to an increase in property values. The city is projected to collect a total of $3.61 million for FY 2024-25, but would collect about $4.02 million if the same tax rate is approved for the coming fiscal year.
The rate would help fund the proposed budget, which has about $21.43 million in projected expenses for its general fund. This is only slightly more than the $21.42 million that the city is projected to spend by the end of FY 2024-25.
GET INVOLVED
The proposed fiscal year 2025-26 budget for Marble Falls can be found here. Keep up with Marble Falls government agendas here.
The public hearing for the budget and tax rate will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 16 at Marble Falls City Hall, 800 Third St. The meeting is open to the public and residents are welcome to provide comments at that time, but any questions, concerns, or remarks also can be made ahead of time by contacting members of City Council.
Call Marble Falls Mayor John Packer at 830-693-3615 or contact him via this link.
Contact councilors Richard Westerman, Craig Magerkurth, Karlee Hubble, Lauren Haltom, Dee Haddock, and Griff Morris by their email addresses, found on the city’s elected officials webpage.