Marina Armendariz
BUDA — Buda City Council’s fiscal year 2026 budget meeting June 12 covered multiple topics, including an increase in water rates, additions to the Buda Sportsplex and renovations to City Park. This was the first in a series of meetings regarding the budget, prior to its expected adoption Sept. 16.
Water
Council began by discussing the water and wastewater budgets for this year. During a presentation, Grady Reed of HDR Engineering proposed a 9% increase in water rates for FY 2026.
“We have a 9% water rate increase built into the budget in 2026 and that estimated revenue is about $6.5 million,” said Bianca Redmon, finance director for the city of Buda. “To look and see what our rate increase was last year, that was 6% for fiscal year 25, versus a 9% estimated for 2026.”
According to Reed’s presentation, with the Water Utility Department not meeting its fund balance, council hopes to bring it up by 2030 with the proposed increase in water rates.
Unlike water, the wastewater utility fund is above its balance and Reed proposed no increase in wastewater rates.
According to the presentation, Buda residents currently pay $50 for 5,000 gallons of water use and $68 for the same amount of wastewater use. The proposed increase will raise the rate to $54 for water use and maintain the $68 for wastewater use.
Buda Sportsplex
One project being considered for FY 2026 is the expansion and enhancement of the Buda Sportsplex.
With this comes many proposed plans. The updates, presented by city manager Micah Grau, included rebuilding the existing complex and buildings, a new pond on the east end of the complex and improving the parking lots.
“The existing four fields would be rehabilitated and you would get four new fields, along with other site amenities,” said Grau.
The cost of the sportsplex is still under discussion. Council previously gave direction to bid out the first phase of the sportsplex expansion and to find ways to pay for it.
One option for funding is to issue an $11 million certificate of obligation bond, which would equate to $740,000 in annual debt service payments.
“This would be timed to not impact this current tax year and current tax rate, but it would be issued in October or November, after you’ve already set the tax rate, so it would be impacting next year’s tax rate,” said Grau.
The city manager also made council aware of an excess in the general fund that could be put towards funding the sportsplex.
The Buda Sportsplex expansion and enhancement bid window is set to close July 9, with it being out to bid as of June 11, and council will be able to award the contract to a company July 15.
City Park
The Buda City Park playground was brought up toward the end of the council meeting, due to its inspection results.
“This has been a real eye-opening experience with having all of these playgrounds inspected,” said Tony Host, parks director. “We had an inspection and we had a lot of deficiencies.”
During the recent inspection, many issues involving the playground came to light, Host explained. These issues included exposed concrete, loose, missing and corroded hardware, rotting wood fixtures, unstable structures and more.
According to Host’s presentation, the inspection also noted the need for a fence to be built between the playground and parking lot to make the playground compliant.
The seesaw in City Park has also been repeatedly vandalized, leading to the proposal of a playground renovation.
“Some of these amenities in this park were not even installed properly from the get-go, so we’re kind of on borrowed time,” said Host. “This is the City Park replacement and these are the kind of things we want to make sure we show you.”
As for immediate solutions, staff has tightened screws and bolts to diminish some of the safety hazards, along with removing what they can. However, certain structures need more time and funding to be replaced.
In addition to new playground structures and a fence between the playground and parking lot, Host recommended replacing the current mulch with pour-in-place rubber.
According to Host’s presentation, the mulch would cost approximately $50,000 per year to maintain compliance, while the pour-in-place costs $350,000 and lasts 10-15 years.
Buda City Council will have its second budget workshop July 23.
