City staff outlines FY27 budget calendar as appraisal values tick up

Deputy Administrator Sean Cox gave council a high‑level kickoff of the fiscal year 2027 budget process, walking through the calendar of workshops, department presentations and public hearings. He told council staff expect to file a proposed budget with the city secretary’s office on June 26 and that public hearings on the proposed budget and tax rate are scheduled in September.

Cox presented preliminary appraisal estimates and tax‑base history: the city’s certified 2025 appraised value was $2.19 billion and staff’s 2026 estimate was $2.49 billion — an approximate increase of $304 million in appraised value. Cox said that if the current ad valorem tax rate remained unchanged, that estimated growth could produce roughly $700,000 in additional tax revenue, depending on final certified values.

Council asked staff to add explicit notes and a separate tracking page showing where council‑specific direction or penciled‑in changes appear in subsequent budget presentations; Cox agreed staff will keep an ongoing list and meet with the mayor before filing. Several council members also requested that charts and slides include numeric percentages next to color graphics for readability.

Cox emphasized the process is iterative and departmental requests will be reviewed at upcoming workshops; he said the finance department and department directors have already compiled preliminary requests and that the first substantive workshop to review departmental numbers is scheduled for June 30. “We’ll provide some description and what that change was,” he said, promising version‑to‑version difference tracking for council.