Kyle City Council approved the first of two readings for the $365.3 million budget, as well as a 2.87% increase in property taxes at its Aug. 20 meeting.
The following is the budget summary, as amended by city council on Aug. 3:
• General fund budget: $83.1 million
• Capital Improvements Plan budget: $248.5 million
• Total budget: $365.3 million
• 5-year CIP spending plan (FY 2025-29): $848.4 million Council member Miguel Zuniga requested an increase in the beautification funding, stating that the program worked well the previous year and he would like to continue this process. Currently, the budget is proposed at $2,164,3311, which is a $62,372 increase from the 202324 budget.
“I’d like to see an anchored grocer. I think that would really help our development in the city,” said Zuniga. “Also, assistance infrastructure. Assistance in the underinvested areas to help attract that retail development that won’t come on its own.”
He also suggested a 4% salary increase “across the board” instead of a 4.5% increase, as according to the council member, this is the raise the city of Austin is giving, which is a bigger city with more employees and residents.
“It’s not apples to apples to compare a baseline that is different from another baseline as a percentage of an increase. That was literally the point that was made at the beginning is that we’re all in different situations,” said Mayor Travis Mitchell.
Council member Robert Rizo agreed with this sentiment, stating that the city has a very low retention rate, especially for those “boots on the ground, everyday workers,” and that many have to work two jobs. So, this increase would be good for them.
“Anywhere that I could be fiscally responsive, that’s what my constituents put me up here for, to make those decisions. This is not about going after staff and saying, ‘Four and a half percent, you don’t deserve it.’
I would love to give them 5%, 5.5%, but I know that the dollar [doesn’t just] grow on a tree,” said Zuniga.
Next, council member Michael Tobias was curious about the budget for the sidewalk initiative, which aims to bring more sidewalks throughout the city. According to city manager Bryan Langley, there is $500,000 in the budget, but that there will soon be a presentation for the upcoming Sidewalk Master Plan.
“I think if we came forward and identified, let’s say four or five projects, and we could only fund two or three, then the council could consider — if you wanted to do those other two or three projects — what would be the cost, how would you fund it. We could give you those options at that time,” said Langley. Both Tobias and Rizo commented on lighting throughout the city, as well.
In hopes to create different Christmas themes per park, such as an animal theme at Lake Kyle, with penguins and polar bears, council member Daniela Parsley proposed an additional $100,000 to the holiday budget, which would include adding a lit arch to welcome community members downtown.
In an effort to find funding for these amendments, Zuniga suggested using the $16 million from general funds, which was reserved for the fields at Kyle Sportsplex.
“Let’s [not] take money away from building fields in an area that is, arguably, an underserved area. We don’t have sports fields, infrastructure. Let’s look at what we can do and how we can accomplish that without taking away from another valuable program that is in dire need,” Mitchell said in response.
“That’s bizarre that you say underserved area because that’s not the whole of the city,” said Zuniga.
“One thing to put into the conversation, too, is that we’ve added a new strategic plan this year,” reminded Langley. “This is the first citywide strategic plan and it’s meant to guide the budget process and guide our decision making. So, I think if you’re looking at amendments, you’re looking at changing things, I would ask you to think about that document, as well.”
According to Perwez Moheet, director of finance, two new fees will be added to open records requests. The first is a labor charge of $18.75 per hour for locating, compiling, redacting and reproducing requested information and data, while the second is an administrative overhead charge at 20%.
“We’re also increasing all open records charges by 25% in accordance with state law. Cities are authorized to do this if the amount that the state law authorizes is not sufficient to cover our costs,” said city attorney Aimee Alcorn.
“So, what we’ve seen is that our costs are significantly higher than what we’re allowed to charge for these programs.
When you think about staff time and how much our staff members costs us between salary and benefits and all of that, we’re not even close to our actual charges. And so since we’re allowed to increase it, we’re recommending doing so because otherwise the burden goes on the taxpayers as a whole instead of the person requesting the records.”
Council voted 6-1, with Zuniga dissenting, to approve the first reading of the fiscal year 2024-25 budget.
To listen to the discussion, visit bit. ly/3ySc94I.
The item to approve the property tax rate at $0.4693 per $100 assessed valuation, which, according to Mitchell, is a 2.87% increase, was also approved 5-2, with Zuniga and Tobias dissenting.
The next council meeting and second public hearing for the budget and tax rate will be held on Sept. 3.
