No residents showed up Tuesday to speak when the Wichita Falls City Council held a public hearing on its proposed 2025-26 budget.
The $252.7 million budget proposes a lower property tax rate, but it raises more tax revenue through increased property values and slightly increases water and sewer rates.
“I’m just concerned with all we’re trying to do that we keep lowering the tax rate,” Councilor Jeff Browning said as councilors scheduled future action on the budget.
They set a final hearing and vote on the budget and tax rate for Sept. 2. Both will take effect on Oct. 1.
Bob Mayfield, owner of Marcom Products, a marketing company, told councilors he was concerned about the potential negative impact on his customers and nonprofits of planned outsourcing of the management of the city’s MPEC facilities.
“The mayor and others have promised some of the more visible nonprofits that their costs will not increase with this outsourcing,” he said.
But a mayor and city manager made the same promise 10 years ago when they hired a management company, Mayfield said.
“It didn’t happen. Virtually every group that I worked with those years saw substantial price increases,” he said.
He said the last time the city outsourced the facilities it had to subsidize the MPEC with hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The city confirmed on July 23 it is “exploring options with potential partners to manage the MPEC facilities.”
Also on Tuesday, councilors voted to change the city’s camping ordinance to a prohibited acts in public areas ordinance.
The change prohibits camping or storing personal belongings in public areas and prohibits erecting tents or making campfires in those areas. Public urination or defecation is also prohibited.
Councilors also voted to establish a Homeless Advisory Committee.
The council also awarded Insituform Technologies a contract of about $1.144 million for the 2025 sewer improvement project and agreed to modify a payment in lieu of taxes.
City Council members also signed off on funding up to $104,000 in sales tax corporation money to White Realty for renovations to the City National Bank Building at 807 Eighth St.
Expenditures approved for city facilities Tuesday included:
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Public is a no-show at city tax and budget hearing
Reporting by Lynn Walker, Wichita Falls Times Record News / Wichita Falls Times Record News
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