After days of hearing on the proposed 2026 budget, the Lubbock City Council is set to meet this week to adopt a proposed maximum tax rate.
This, along with considering which amendments to approve for the City of Lubbock Unified Development Code and other items are set to be discussed by the council at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Citizens Tower.
Here’s a look at the top two items set on the council’s agenda this week.
Council to consider UDC amendments from P&Z commission
In early July, the City of Lubbock Planning and Zoning Commission made its decision on which Unified Development Code amendments to recommend to the city council.
After hearing from the public, the commission unanimously voted to grant a favorable recommendation to 55 of the 56 proposed UDC amendments.
The only amendment not to get the green light from the commission was Amendment 31, which deals with wall signage specifically relating to the Raider Parking Garage across from the Texas Tech Jones AT&T stadium. The amendment failed with a unanimous vote and has drawn in vocal critiques from the public at every amendment meeting.
On Tuesday, the council will consider which amendments to adopt and to leave out.
Adoption of the proposed maximum tax rate for the 2026 city budget
A resolution on the council’s agenda is to adopt the proposed maximum tax rate for the 2026 budget, and to indicate when the council will host a public hearing on it.
For context, this is one of the standard processes the city has to do in crafting its budget for the upcoming year. Mayor Mark McBrayer told the Avalanche-Journal last week that this is to allow for the public to have enough notice about the highest tax rate the city could adopt but it doesn’t mean that the city will adopt.
“What we do on Tuesday is set the maximum rate we would ever do, which is based on the budget that the city manager has proposed for us — what would that require, as far as a tax rate,” McBrayer said.
McBrayer said think of this as the council proposing guidelines and boundaries instructing the City Manager how to proceed forward in finetuning the proposed 2026 city budget.
This action item comes days after the city received unfavorable news from the Lubbock Central Appraisal District showing nearly $2 million in revenue loss.
According to the resolution, “The rate proposed in the FY 2025-26 Operating Budget is $0.479365 per $100 valuation, which is higher than the 2025 no-new-revenue rate of $0.461938 and lower than the 2025 voter-approval rate of $0.497402.”
“The debt rate is proposed to decrease from $0.112664 to $0.107586 and the proposed maintenance and operations rate increases from $0.357456 to $0.371779. This budget will raise more revenue from property taxes than last year’s budget by $4,572,395, which is a 3.75% increase from last year’s budget. The property tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year is $1,957,555.”
If the resolution is adopted, the public hearing to discuss the proposed tax rate would be scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sept. 2.
How to speak during a Lubbock City Council Meeting?
This meeting will not have a public hearing, as there was one in June on the UDC matter. However, citizens can voice their opposition and support for any item on the council’s agenda through citizen comments at the beginning of the meeting.
To participate, citizens must complete the sign-up form provided at the meeting by 2 p.m. on the day of the meeting, where individuals will be given a limited amount of time to address the council.
Mateo Rosiles is the Government & Public Policy reporter for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Got a news tip for him? Email him: mrosiles@lubbockonline.com.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock City Council to vote on UDC amendments, proposed maximum tax rate for FY26 budget
Reporting by Mateo Rosiles, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal / Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
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