During Tuesday morning’s meeting, the Brownwood City Council approved on second and third/final reading the 2025-26 fiscal year budget of $47,779,989, an increase of 4.34% from the prior year. Council held a budget workshop on July 10 and the proposed budget was published on July 31. A public hearing on the budget was held on August 19.

The 2025-26 fiscal year detailed budget is available on the City’s website, https://www.brownwoodtexas.gov/, in the City Secretary’s office, and at the Brownwood Public Library.

Highlights of the budget include:

• Police Department: $5,270,950, an increase of 1.78%
• Fire Department: $4,420,262, an increase of 4.01%
• Street Department: $2,331,683, an increase of 4.42%
• Parks and Recreation Department: $3,117,190, an increase of 11.37%
• Sales Tax Revenue: $7,415,971 – an increase of 4.28% over the current fiscal year budget, but 2% less than projected sales tax revenues for the current fiscal year
• Property Tax Rate: 69.25 cents per $100 valuation, down 0.19% from the current rate of 69.38 cents per $100 valuation
• Water Base Rate: $32.24/month, up 79-cents from the current rate of $31.45/month
• Water Consumption: $2.87 per 100 cubic feet, up from the current rate of $2.85. Average impact = 20-cents per month
• Sewer: $38.54 per month, up $3.82 per month from the current rate of $34.72 per month
• Sanitation: $27.36 per month, up $1.30 per month from the current rate of $26.06 per month

The total of the above four items will add about $6.11 to the monthly residential utility bill, based on average usage.

The City also on Tuesday moved closer to finalizing the 2025-26 tax rate.

On first reading, the Council approved a tax rate of $.69250, which is effectively a 4.63 percent increase in the tax rate.

A public hearing was held Tuesday Aug. 19.

The No-New-Revenue tax rate is $.66856 per $100 valuation. The proposed tax rate is $.69250 per $100 valuation which exceeds the No-New-Revenue tax rate by 3.58%. The proposed tax rate is a decrease from last year of $.0013 or 0.19%. This will increase total tax revenues from properties on the tax roll by 4.63%.

M/O: $0.57260

I/S: $0.11990

Total tax rate $0.69250

Passage of the tax rate will require a second and third/final reading at a future City Council meeting.