By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
Del Rio City Council members have approved the city’s budget and tax rate for the coming year.
During their most recent regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 8, council members considered a group of ordinances dealing with the budget and tax rate. The first ordinance considered was one adopting a budget for the city for Fiscal Year 2026-2027, which begins Oct. 1 and ends Sept. 30, 2027.
After City Secretary Mari Acosta read the heading of the ordinance, Mayor Al Arreola asked if there was a motion. Councilman J.P. Sanchez made the motion to approve the ordinance to adopt the budget, and Councilwoman Elsa Reyes gave the second.
Before the vote, Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez asked to make a few comments.
Chavez said, “Mayor and city council, before action is taken, I did want to thank the city council for entrusting me to develop the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 budget, working alongside our finance department, particularly (Interim Finance Director) Ms. Roxy Soto.
“The vision was to incorporate the city council’s priorities, get feedback from the community, along with getting every department and division’s priorities and needs and working all that together. The one thing that I did ask the finance department was that we needed to provide not only a balanced budget, but a budget that we can all work with and also be able to provide some sort of pay for our city employees.
“I know it’s been tough, but we continue to work and get to a point where we can be able to provide more, and that should be our goal, coming in every year, but this one in particular, I did want to, once again, thank council for entrusting me and putting this budget together, I wanted to make sure that Ms. Roxy Soto gets the credit she deserves and her team, for working with everyone and putting all the figures, all the information, together, and with that, I did want to highlight some of the things that we incorporated in this particular budget,” Chavez said.
The interim city manager said he and his staff began working on the budget in February, adding the general fund is a balanced budget, and the city’s property tax rate will stay the same at a total of $0.7070 per $100 of property valuation.
Chavez said, “Sales tax is projected to increase 1.15 percent from last year’s budget, generating $8.75 million. The transfers, which was another ask that I wanted to make sure we got, was a reduction in transfers from other funds, and we were able to accomplish that this year, and with that, the transfers into the general fund, budgeted $9.95 million, which is 12.4 less than last year’s budget.
“As previously mentioned, the personnel budget includes a 2 percent salary adjustment for all non-civil service employees. The budget also includes a 5 percent increase in employer contribution on the health and dental insurance costs.
“The amount of budgeted positions will be reduced from 578 to 544, and this amounts to a reduction of 34 vacant positions. I want to make sure that is highlighted. We did not eliminate any positions that were currently filled. Any positions that were eliminated were vacant at the point in time (the decision was made), and that’s one reason we were able to balance this budget with that particular practice,” Chavez said.
He noted the general fund transfer to transportation would be decreased by $120,700 compared to last year, and the new budget includes $200,000 for street mills and overlay. Chavez said the budget also contains an additional debt of $7 million for street work, which will be presented to the council in the next few months.
Chavez went on, “The revenue reflects a change in fees made to the water and sewer connections, the international bridge pedestrian and bicycle tolls and also revised solid waste rates. Water and sewer rates begin in October are based on the approved five-year plan. We did include a city engineer position, along with the department, and also, I want to mention the city continues to meet with our fire and police officers associations in negotiations, and we will keep council apprised of any developments and any changes.
“This was just more of a reclass, without any funds changing, the emergency management division was reclassified under the fire department.
“Those were the main highlights that I wanted to point out, and as mentioned, we did submit an original proposed budget on Aug. 11. It was revised on Aug. 25, and the information provided in today’s packet reflects that last revised proposed budget, and, once again, thank you, mayor and city council, for the support, and before you is our proposed budget for FY 26-27,” Chavez said.
Following the interim city manager’s statement, Arreola said, “All I want to say is thank you to the finance department and especially you, Mr. Chavez. I think this is the first year that we have a web site where the citizens can participate on, comment on anything in our budget. I think in prior years, we opened the doors and nobody showed up. Now, it’s available on the computer. They can go in and see that they want. . . That is what transparency is all about.”
Councilman J.P. Sanchez added his praise to the mayor’s.
Sanchez said, “I would also like to thank the acting city manager, Mr. Chavez. He stepped up to the plate. He didn’t hesitate. Roxy, you’re awesome. Keep up the good work. And all the people in the departments, the department heads, because they had a lot to do with it also. Everybody had to tighten up their belts for us to be able to have a balanced budget, and this is what we need to do, is have a balanced budget so we can continue to do what we can do for the citizens of Del Rio. Thank you, Mr. Chavez.”
Councilman Leno Hernandez said, “Mr. Chavez, just for the sake of clarity because there’s an elephant in the room about these rates that we’ll be looking at in future council meetings: I just was curious. Normally, budgets are passed, and rates will always be at the forefront throughout the entire year, whether it’s trash rates or rental rates for facilities or rates to utilize the golf course and stuff, so we don’t want to cause a panic with the public when they say you’re passing a budget and rates aren’t approved yet. Rates will always be floating in our atmosphere throughout the year. Is that correct?”
Chavez responded, “Yes, and the rates could be adjusted at any point in time, and with that, we amend the budget.”
Hernandez added, “I just wanted to be clear because you all did a fantastic job as far as educating the council from the ground up of what this budget was composed of, and you allowed us to give you the input that we wanted to see implemented, as far as the philosophy and direction of the city, and I commend you. I appreciate all the work that you and your staff have been doing to get this done. Thank you.”
Hearing no further comments, the mayor called for a vote, which was a roll call vote. Acosta called each council member’s name, and each in turn voted to approve the motion to adopt the budget. Councilwoman Carmen Gutierrez was absent. The motion to adopt the budget was approved on a 6-0 vote.
The council then passed ordinances setting the city’s tax rate.
The first ordinance called for the adoption of a maintenance and operation (M&O) tax rate for the 2026 tax year of $0.404887 per $100 of taxable valuation. The council again voted by roll call vote, and the motion to approve the M&O rate passed on a 6-0 vote.
The second ordinance called for the adoption of a debt service (interest and sinking – I&S) tax rate for the 2026 tax year of $0.302113 per $100 of taxable valuation. The council voted by roll call vote, and the motion to approve the I&S rate passed on a 6-0 vote.
The city’s overall tax rate for the 2026 tax year is $0.7070, the same as the previous year’s rate.
As the final ordinance in its suite of decisions regarding the budget, the council voted 6-0 to approve an ordinance to amend the city’s consolidated fee schedule to revise several fees.
Included in the ordinance is the increase of the international bridge tolls for pedestrians and bicyclists from 75 cents to $1. Council members were informed the change in rate had been on the agenda of the international bridge board, but the board’s most recent meeting was canceled due to a lack of a quorum.
The ordinance also raises some sewer and water connection rates as follows: sewer connection 6-inch, from $450 to $675; water connection ¾-inch partial, from $150 to $225; water connection ¾-inch complete, from $600 to $900; water connection 1-inch partial, from $250 to $375; and water connection 1-inch complete, from $800 to $1,200.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
