WACO, Texas (KXXV) — Waco proposes a $649.8 million budget for the upcoming fiscal year with a focus on public safety and efficiency. Residents can expect an $11 increase in their monthly bills for city services as officials maintain the current tax rate.
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The proposed budget is slightly higher than the previous year and includes significant investments in public safety, according to Waco's Chief Financial Officer Blu Kostelich.
"For the upcoming budget, we are looking at continuing to invest in our core services," Kostelich said.
"We're going to continue our investment into public safety, that is one of the areas that has grown in the year budget," he said.
The budget allocates more than $210 million to the general fund for support services like public safety and street and bridge maintenance. It also includes more than $134 million for the capital improvement program and nearly $10 million in investments specifically for fire and police departments.
City officials have focused on efficiency measures in this year's budget planning process.
"We wanted a total reduction of about $24 million. $12 million out of the general fund, $12 million out of the non-general fund, just every other department," Kostelich said.
To help achieve these reductions, the city eliminated 70 vacant positions.
"When we got in there, we started working with our departments, seeing what efficiencies they could find in their operations. And what they came back to us with was a total of $32 million in cuts, most of that being recurring cuts, so not just one-time cuts. These are things that will continue," Kostelich said.
The city is proposing to maintain the current tax rate of 75.50 cents per $100 in valuation, which will result in higher taxes for homeowners due to increased property values.
"This will be the 3rd year that we're gonna keep this tax rate at the same level. What we looked at is that our certified values came in and they came in a little bit lower than what we were expecting. So we did have to maintain that tax rate to bring in the same amount of revenue," Kostelich said.
The final budget presentation to City Council is set for Tuesday. On September 2, the council will hold a budget and tax rate public hearing before voting to formally adopt the budget. The tax rate will be set at a special council meeting on September 9, with the new budget taking effect on October 1.
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