City manager frames 'Garland on the Rise' as decade-long fiscal strategy to defend services under SB2

City Manager Mike Betts presented "Garland on the Rise," a 10-year strategic plan that the administration says is needed to respond to two structural pressures: long-run housing market decline and revenue compression from Texas Senate Bill 2. Betts warned the council that because costs for public works, health insurance and technology are rising faster than the SB2 revenue cap, the city faces an accumulating general-fund shortfall unless it acts. "Every year we go $5,000,000 backwards," Betts said, connecting the housing strategy to a fiscal imperative.

The strategic plan rests on four pillars: protect core services (public safety, parks, libraries), accelerate economic redevelopment in designated focus areas, strengthen financial capacity (including a proposed tax-rate rebalancing ballot in November), and align/measure implementation with a performance dashboard. Betts emphasized discipline: staff will recommend budget changes that align with the plan, and council would be asked to designate initial economic focus areas in June.

Betts outlined risks including legislative changes to SB2, recession-timing risks for private investment, workforce retention, and loss of community support if the council does not communicate trade-offs. He said immediate outcomes will be small, visible 0.25 improvements and code/permit streamlining, with major catalytic private investment anticipated in years 35 and measurable fiscal benefits after year 6. "This plan is about how we take control as opposed to let the market forces ... drive what happens in the city," Betts said.