By Robert Taylor
The City of Boerne’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2025 was presented to City Council at the August 13 meeting where the City Manager’s Office and Finance director led a workshop with a detailed budget overview.
Tuesday’s City Council workshop was the culmination of months of work that began in February with a winter workshop and concluded with a series of summer workshops outlining the budget development process.
“We’ve been meeting on this, multiple meetings, several City Council meetings, budget workshops, and winter workshops. A lot of great effort has gone into play here,” City Manager Ben Thatcher said. “We are pleased to file a budget that meets all of our budget goals and priorities.”
Assistant City Manager Danny Zincke laid out the budget priorities for the fiscal year 2025 (FY 2025) budget, which runs from Oct. 1, 2024, to September 30, 2025. Staff priorities when building this budget were to:
- 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
Watch the full presentation to City Council.
Budget Highlights
The proposed FY 2025 budget is $138 million and includes $63 million in governmental funds and $75 million in utility funds. Overall, the budget is a 2.4% reduction from the previous budget. The proposed budget also includes a 0.5 cent reduction to the tax rate at $0.4716 per $100 valuation.
The reduction to the tax rate and overall budget was a priority for staff throughout the budget development process and was not required by law. The accomplishment was possible thanks to the diligent work of staff to optimize department budgets while continuing to provide the same level of high-quality services to residents.
Finance Director Sarah Buckelew explained there was a 2 percent taxable property value increase based on the appraisals provided by the Kendall Country Appraisal District. The bulk of this 2 percent increase came from the appraised market value of new property construction while existing properties saw a slight decline in appraised market value compared to last year. The average home value for 2025 is $460,000, an increase from $425,000 in 2024.
Employer of Choice
One of the priorities for this budget is for the City of Boerne to remain an employer of choice for the Hill Country. This budget achieves this goal by providing competitive compensation for the employees who provide the valuable services residents have come to expect. A cost-of-living adjustment of 4 percent is proposed based on indicators from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
This budget also features no cost increases for health insurance and other ancillary benefits while maintaining the same level of services for employees and their families.
The new budget includes citizen service enhancements with the inclusion of six new staff positions. Two of the positions are granted funded, three are utilities funded, and one is funded by the general fund.
Master Plan Implementation
The proposed budget for FY 2025 again focuses on implementing the City’s master plans and associated projects from the Capital Improvement Plan and the 2022 bond election program. These are projects that have been prioritized based on feedback from citizen surveys, citizen committees, and other input opportunities.
Assistant City Manager Kristy Stark highlighted governmental and utilities projects that will be included in the budget. Detailed breakdowns of these projects were provided to City Council at budget workshops earlier in the summer.
Some of the major projects residents will start to see in the coming months are listed below.
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.
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.
Budget Approval Process
After receiving the presentation, City Council officially called for two public hearings on the proposed budget to be held on August 27, 2024, and September 10, 2024. Both meetings will be held at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Council will vote to approve the final budget at its September 10, 2024, meeting.
2025 Budget Calendar
Below are key dates in the budget development process:
- June 25: City Council Meeting | Budget Outlook and Priorities
- July 9: City Council Meeting | Capital Improvement Plan Workshop and a presentation from the Kendall County Appraisal District
- July 23: City Council Meeting | Utilities Capital Improvement Plan Workshop
- August 9: City Manager files proposed budget with City Secretary, draft budget provided to City Council
- August 13: City Council Meeting | Governmental Budget Workshop
- August 27: First public hearing on budget and tax rate
- September 10: Second public hearing on budget and tax rate and adoption of budget and tax rate
