By Robert Taylor
Boerne City Council adopted the Fiscal Year 2024-2025 budget at their meeting on Sept. 10 after months of workshops and planning efforts.
The new budget outlines City operations for the upcoming fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025.
“This year’s budget is a reflection of staff’s collective efforts to maintain exceptional service levels while also making strategic investments in our future,” City Manager Ben Thatcher said. “We continue to build on our strong fiscal foundation with prudent financial management and strategic planning.”
Council and staff priorities for the budget included:
- Manage inflationary cost increases
- Maintain employer of choice status
- Implement master plans
- Advance projects from the 2022 bond election
- Advance Capital Improvement Plan projects
- Provide tax relief to citizens
Budget Overview
The newly adopted budget is $138 million, which is a 2.4% reduction from the previous year’s budget. The budget also includes a 0.5 cent reduction to the tax rate for residents. The adopted tax rate is $0.4716 per $100 valuation.
City staff worked diligently to optimize departmental budgets without a reduction in service levels for residents and customers, which made the overall budget reduction possible.
What’s in the Budget
The City of Boerne’s FY 2025 budget includes funding for several major projects from the Capital Improvement Plan, including bond and other infrastructure projects. These are projects that have been identified as priorities based on feedback from citizen surveys, citizens-led committees, and other avenues.
Over $34 million is allocated for capital improvement projects, including major enhancements to roads and water and wastewater systems, ensuring our infrastructure keeps pace with growth.
Use the two links below to review a full breakdown of projects.
Projects Starting Soon
Many of the projects listed in the City’s Capital Improvement Plan are still in the planning and design phases and scheduled to begin construction in future years. But residents will start to see work being done on several projects in the coming months and year.
Adler Road
The first phase of the Adler Road project will start in 2025 and calls for the construction of two new culverts at creek crossings to strengthen flood resiliency. Once the culverts are in place work will begin on phase two, the bond project to reconstruct Adler Road to include a continuous center turn lane, shared use paths, and sidewalks.
Other Street Reconstructions
Another bond project that will start after the first of the year is the reconstruction of three streets: West Blanco Road, West Kronkosy Street, and Parkway Drive. These three streets were included in the bond program based on their poor pavement condition. These street projects are expected to be complete by late spring 2025.
Johns Road Roundabout
This bond project will construct a roundabout at the intersection of Johns Road and School Street to alleviate traffic issues and increase pedestrian safety. Work is slated to begin in summer 2025.
Park Projects
Several bond projects will soon be underway at various parks. The first project residents will see is the installation of a permanent restroom facility at Kinderpark – a project requested by numerous residents in the City’s citizen surveys. Work is underway already to prep the site for the installation of the bathroom unit.
Next will be the installation of permanent lighting at a multiuse field at City Park and a softball field at Northrup Park. The field at Northrup Park will also get new sod and irrigation. Work is also expected to begin on the development of Northside Community Park by the end of 2025.
Public Safety
The design of Fire Station No. 2 is included in the FY 2025 budget. The new station will be built on Esperanza Boulevard to serve the Fire Department’s eastern service area.
The budget also includes a grant-funded mental health officer position for the Police Department. This will be the second MHO for the department to provide crucial support to people experiencing mental health crises in our community.
Review the Budget
As always, residents are encouraged to check out the full City of Boerne budget online through the easy to navigate dashboard.
