The Dublin City Council approved the 2026-27 budget and tax rate in a lengthy regular meeting Monday, Sept. 14 where they also voted to sell a portion of the bricks removed in the Patrick street renovation and granted replats following public hearings.
The proposed budget was among the public hearings with Director of Public Safety Cameron Ray reporting the budget presented included 3.5 % raises for employees and was based on the proposed tax rate of $.7476 per $100 valuation.
This is higher than last year’s rate of $.7402 and represents a 1.02% increase (or $96.03 on a $100,000 home). Ray pointed out the inflation rate is 3.4% and the increase is being kept below that while taking care of city employees and putting some money back into the general fund reserve, an action he reported hasn’t been done in 10 years.
Councilmember Bo Kabala raised concerns about raising the tax rate. He noted the increase was only $17,500 and the budget included a $34,000 contingency fund, which will serve as the funds to go into the reserves. He posed whether it would be better to keep the tax rate the same and have a smaller contingency fund.
Ray and Director of Finance Kim Seider responded when asked about decreasing the I&S side of the rate that Interest & Sinking is set by the debt service rate of the city and can only be used in paying off debt obligations.
Kabala noted a $10,000 difference in the debt amount for next year and Seider advised that a water main project will be completed in the fiscal year prompting the city’s first payment on the project which was 90% funded by a grant and the city’s matching was part of a certificate of obligation. (That completion will increase the debt service by $10,000 in the coming year.)
Councilmember Sammy Moore asked about the city’s current tax collection rate. Ray advised the city is collecting more than what is budgeted due to Texas Communities Group which is proactive in collecting taxes, current and back.
Councilmember Nancy Williams noted the work in keeping the rate as low as possible while taking care of employees and putting something in for the future. She pointed out that a general fund is supposed to have enough for two months of operation.
“It terrifies me that we haven’t put anything in reserves [for that long],” Ray said.
The council unanimously passed the budget. They also passed the tax rate of $.7476 with Kabala opposed.
Director of Infrastructure and Development Cory James reported to the council that crews from Jay Mills handling the TxDOT Patrick street renovations have been cleaning and stacking bricks salvaged from the main street project. James noted plans to replace bricks around downtown on Grafton and Elm next year as well as a pilot project where city crews (with volunteer help) can use the bricks to pave Hogan’s Alley for better drainage.
James noted there has been interest in the bricks by residents and proposed selling some of the unneeded bricks with those funds going to related projects.
Councilmember Darren Turley voted to sell 50,000 of the bricks to test the demand and ensure the city had enough left for renovations and projects. Bricks will sell for $5 each.
In public hearings, Council heard of replats proposed at Bradberry Steel in the 900 block of East Blackjack and in the 200 block of Trowbridge.
The Blackjack replat will allow the separation of a rental house from the business with an easement for trucks to keep road access while the Trowbridge replat is from a developer who was previously granted dense single family designation to install modified shipping container homes. He decided to go back into larger lots, splitting it into 7 with lot 2 including 6 acres in the back.
Code Enforcement Officer Larry Stanford said the only concern issued was from a neighbor worried about equipment being left out in construction.
Both replats were unanimously passed.
Council unanimously passed two items for Dublin PD, the upfitting of a Chevrolet Tahoe and Dodge Durango (through funds available in the PD’s budget) and the interlocal agreement starting Oct. 1 for dispatching through the joint dispatch center. Ray noted the state of the art facility offers great service for the officers and the PD were outfitted with cutting edge equipment that works with the center’s technology.
Councilmembers also unanimously passed the EDC budget for the coming year with several noting the positive work done in the past year through their grants.
They also unanimously approved advertising RFPs to construct hangars at the airport.
The City Council’s next meeting will be Monday, Oct. 19 at 6 p.m.