Megan Navarro
WIMBERLEY — Wimberley City Council held a budget workshop prior to its regular meeting Aug. 21.
Proposed goals
Starting off the workshop, city administrator Tim Patek presented the proposed goals for fiscal year (FY) 2025-26.
The first goal is to establish a comprehensive program to incentivize water conservation partnerships with key stakeholders, aiming to reduce water usage over the next two years. The program — aimed to start by September 2025 and achieve a 20% reduction in water usage by September 2026 — would be developed and launched to encourage water conservation partnerships with stakeholders, including local businesses, community organizations and residents.
This would also educate property owners using the Water-Wise guidelines on the city’s website and be included in building permit applications. Conservation efforts, according to Patek’s presentation, include no pools in new construction, air conditioning condensation capture, rainwater collection alternatives, on-site water system, xeriscape and no sprinkler systems
“We are going to all work together on that, working with Salwa Khan and other organizations to try to educate people on trying to conserve,” Patek said.
Another goal is to create a task force of local and regional emergency service personnel to identify and enact a more robust emergency alert system to ensure timely and efficient communication during crises. The task force would be created by October 2025 to develop and adopt a communications strategy and implementation plan, including funding sources, by February 2026.
The city also wants to increase walkability, connectivity and parking. The goal is to reduce congestion and traffic in the city’s commercial areas through a multipronged approach incorporating nature. Additionally, according to Patek, the city is looking at improving walkability and connectivity in the downtown district, exploring weekend public transportation options and increasing parking alternatives, while utilizing consistent and effective directional signage.
The timeline would be to complete connectivity trails by the end of fiscal year 2027 and install new signage within two years, as the budget allows.
Lastly, the city wants to establish a process to secure resources for acquisition of land and facilities for conservation, educational and recreation-related projects for public parks and natural areas. This would be done by collaborating with Friends of Wimberley Parks, other nonprofits, citizens and public partners. Currently, the city’s goal is to establish a team and set out a timeline for this.
More specifically, the city is looking at:
• Developing broad fundraising strategy
• Developing a plan for future park space and green areas in the community
• Obtaining $2 million in funding for Blue Hole Nature Center
• Evaluating feasibility of a public swimming pool
• Developing specific plans for water for the park for establishing landscaping, sports fields, etc.
Budget
Moving into the budget portion of the workshop, Patek shared with council that city staff moved the Community Center into the parks fund — which is now called Parks and Recreation, rather than Blue Hole. Also, there is a 3% salary increase for all full-time employees and the city is looking at increasing the retirement contributions from 5% to 6%.
The proposed FY 2025-26 budget ensures a balanced budget with no anticipated deficits or excess for most major funds, Patek said, with the total proposed revenues being $4,421,000, matching the proposed expenditures.
“This balanced budget approach ensures that there is no projected deficit or excess across all major funds, promoting fiscal responsibility,” the city administrator said.
The general fund proposed revenue is $2,095,000, with the largest source coming from the General Sales & Use Tax, estimated at $1,535,000.
As for the proposed expenditures, those are at $2,095,000, with personnel services accounting for $388,200, primarily for salaries and wages. Public Works - Roads is allocated at $634,000, which includes a significant amount of funding for capital outlay projects related to road maintenance and improvements.
The Parks and Recreation Fund’s revenue and expenditures are both proposed for $1,177,000. The revenues mainly derive from facility rental fees, which include contributions from reservations, gate fees and special events. In the expenditures, $923,900 is allocated for parks expenditures, covering personnel services, supplies and maintenance, with $253,100 earmarked for Community Center expenses.
The Wastewater Fund is projected to generate $424,000 in revenue, with $420,000 in service fees and $4,000 in interest, application fees and penalties. The expenditures total to the same as the revenue, with major allocations including $105,000 for contract services and $60,000 for utilities.
The primary revenue source for the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund is estimated at $725,000, reflecting the expected income from hotel and related activities: “That’s a decrease of about $50,000. We are being very conservative on that. We know that our numbers have gone down a bit because of people getting out of the ETJ.”
The majority of the allocations are salaries for staffing the Wimberley Welcome Center, projected at $165,500. Tourism expenditures are budgeted at $130,000 to promote local attractions, events and marketing efforts, while advertising is allocated at $100,000 to increase visibility of the area.
The Interest & Sinking Fund is set at $370,000 in revenues — $125,000 of transfers from the general fund and $245,000 from the wastewater fund. Expenditures are set at the same amount as the revenues, similar to the other funds.
Wimberley City Council meets next at 6 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 4. The budget will be brought back to council for the public to have a chance to make comments, but the public hearing will be held Sept. 18.
More information on city council meetings can be found at wimberleytx.portal.civicclerk.com.
