Marble Falls approves modest budget
The Marble Falls City Council passed its 2025-26 fiscal year budget Tuesday, Sept. 16, locking in spending similar to 2024-25 numbers.
The approved budget remains largely unchanged from the version proposed in August, which had a strong focus on maintaining current services, rather than expanding government, due to less-than-expected sales-tax and ad valorem revenue for the city going into the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.
“With the budget (this year), we decided to be as conservative as possible,” said Mayor John Packer when the budget was originally proposed. “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.”
Most city departments saw nearly flat funding with few, if any, upgrades to personnel or services provided.
BUDGET AT A GLANCE
Marble Falls is budgeting for about $21.92 million in total revenue for the city’s general fund, which will be used to support day-to-day operations and expenditures for the coming year. This is about 1.85 percent higher than the city’s 2024-25 budgeted revenues of $21.52 million.
The revenue comes from diverse sources, but it is mainly made up of property taxes, sales tax, city services, licenses and permitting, and other governmental processes.
PROPERTY TAX
The City Council approved a $0.5350-per-$100-property-valuation tax to help fund its 2025-26 budget. This is the same rate the city adopted for 2024-25, but it will raise more funds than last year due to a rise in property values and new construction.
The newly approved tax rate will raise about $4.02 million in the coming year. This is about $408,000 more, or an 11 percent increase, from 2024-25’s total of $3.61 million.
Property taxes represent a little over 18 percent of the city’s total budgeted revenues for the 2025-26 budget.
SALES TAX
The city’s expected sales-tax revenue for 2025-26 is $11.38 million, the same projected revenue the city expects for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The expected lack of growth in sales-tax revenue was part of the reason for growth in government being kept to a minimum this budget year.
The predicted $11.38 million represents about 52 percent of the city’s total budgeted revenues for 2025-26.
OTHER SOURCES
With about $15.4 million, or roughly 70 percent, of the city’s $21.92 million budgeted revenues coming from property and sales tax, the remaining 30 percent comes from several other sources.
- charges for services, $1.83 million
- direct transfers in from other funds, $1.81 million
- licenses and permits, $950,000
- franchise fees, $791,000
- fines and forfeitures, $365,000
- miscellaneous, $324,000
- intergovernmental, $236,000
- debt proceeds, $115,000
- mixed beverage tax, $90,000
UTILITIES
Separate from the city’s general fund is its utility fund, which takes in revenue from fees for water and wastewater services in Marble Falls. These funds are generally used for the maintenance, improvement, and support of the city’s water and wastewater infrastructure.
The city is budgeting for about $11.52 million in revenue for 2025-26. This is about $359,000 more than 2024-25’s budgeted $11.16 million.
While the city has budgeted for over $11 million in revenue this current fiscal year and the coming fiscal year, it only took in about $9 million in 2023-24 and $9.7 million in 2022-23.