By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
City administrators presented the first draft of a major portion of the proposed Fiscal Year 2026-2027 budget during a special meeting Tuesday.
The proposed budget includes a recommendation to cut 13 currently vacant city positions, a 2 percent cost of living increase for the city’s non-civil service employees and a decrease in transfers into the city’s general fund from its enterprise funds.
City Interim Finance Director Roxy Soto gave the presentation during Tuesday’s special meeting.
Soto began by presenting the proposed 2026 property tax
Director and members of the city’s finance department staff during a special meeting Tuesday for
their work on the city’s proposed Fiscal Year 2026-2027 budget. Sanchez said the numerous
workshops city administrators have held with city council members have helped council
members gain a better understanding of the budget. (Photo by Karen Gleason)
rate. Soto said administrators are recommending a proposed property tax rate of $0.707000 per $100 of property valuation, which is the same as the current rate.
She told the council with the current certified property value totals, presented earlier in the meeting by Val Verde County Appraisal District Chief Appraiser Jackie Casanova, the $0.707000 tax rate will generate a total of $15,340,000. This total includes $8,785,000 for maintenance and operations and $6,555,000 for interest and sinking.
Soto pointed out the maintenance and operations (M&O) portion of the tax rate revenues will be used to pay for personnel, supplies, contractual services and capital assets, and the interest, and sinking (I&S) portion of the tax rate revenues will be used to pay the city’s debt obligations for the year.
Soto said one of the recommendations being made by the city’s finance department staff is the elimination of 13 currently vacant city positions. She said in the current fiscal year, there are 349 full- and part-time positions included in the budget.
In the proposed city budget, there are 336 full- and part-time positions, she said.
“With those 13 positions that we are not budgeting for in the general fund, those are unfilled positions. There is not a person that is currently there taking on those duties. Those positions have been restructured, and they will be consolidated within the division,” Soto said.
Interim City Manager Manuel Chavez added, “We did meet with the department heads. . . One thing we wanted to make sure was that the departments had enough resources to maintain a certain level of service, and at the same time, we needed to reduce expenses.”
Soto said one position that will be added to the FY 2026-2027 budget is that of a city engineer. She noted proposed personnel changes in the proposed budget will give an estimated savings of $358,000.
Soto said general fund revenues in the FY 2026-2027 budget are proposed at $31,914,600, with estimated general fund expenditures at $31,914,600.
“The net change in fund balance is zero, so this is a balanced budget,” Soto said.
She noted the budget will include the same property tax rate as that in the current budget, with the same homestead exemptions approved by the council several years ago.
“We also have included a 2 percent cost of living (increase) for non-civil service employees, and we also have built in the 5 percent increase to the city for health and dental (insurance) costs, so no increase to the employees. Rather, the city will take on the 5 percent increase, and we have also decreased the transfers in(to the general fund) from the enterprise funds,” Soto said.
Finally, Soto went over some of the general fund’s expenditure highlights.
She noted fuel costs are up about 30 percent “due to global economic impacts.” She also said there is an increase budgeted for water and sewer costs for city facilities, as the city has to pay for increases it passed in water and sewer costs last year.
Soto said the budget reflects decreases in uniforms and janitorial services following a 2025 contract renewal, and there is a decrease in equipment lease services. She said the budget also includes 12 sets of personal protective equipment (PPE) for firefighters, as well as 100 safety vests, at a cost of about $60,000.
Soto said the city “continues to benefit from the electricity rate that was secured in 2024,” after signing a nine-year contract. She said she noticed fewer fixed asset requests due to previous purchases, and the city will be budgeting centralized cellular device management.
“We also budgeted an irrigation system for the skate garden,” Soto said, adding in response to a question from Councilwoman Elsa Reyes that the system is budgeted at $6,000.
She said permits and fees revenues are budgeted with a “conservative” 5 percent increase.
Soto also pointed out the transfer to transportation decreased by $120,700, mainly due to “a custodial change going to facilities.”
Soto said the proposed budget includes $300,000 for mill and overlay for streets, $20,000 for curbs, $20,000 for tree service removal, $45,000 for budgeted thermoplastic paint and buttons, and $60,000 for contracted services for placing street buttons and painting from Gibbs to Braddie on Bedell Avenue.
“Lastly, we increased the façade improvement program by $5,000 to total $20,000. We know that’s a small amount that could be in that program, but we’re making efforts to increase it whenever we can,” Soto said.
Soto also ran through a summary of revenues and expenses and spent some time discussing the decreases in transfers from the enterprise funds.
After she finished with her presentation, Mayor Al Arreola asked if there were any questions.
Mayor Pro-tem Randy Quinones asked if there was a plan to provide a pay increase for the city’s police officers and firefighters.
Chavez responded city administrators are currently in negotiations with the city’s police officer and firefighter associations.
Several other council members asked questions, then Councilman J.P. Sanchez said he wished to make a comment.
Sanchez said, “I want to commend the finance department for their hard work. A year ago, it was a mess, and I attribute that to our previous city manager, (who told us) we were $6 million in the hole, we were doing all this, and we ended up balancing the budget.
“You didn’t do that this year. You balanced the budget. You did what you had to do, and you’re still working on trying to save the citizens of Del Rio money and do what we need to do for the citizens of Del Rio.
“I want to commend you (Soto) and Mr. Chavez, you two were very instrumental. For the new members (of the council) that are here, the workshops that we had, that helped a lot. . . we got together with you all, and you made it more understandable. With that said, congratulations. I understand it’s still a work in progress for another week. You’re still tweaking and doing what you need to do, but from this time last year to now, oh my God. With you all at the helm, I think it’s going to work out very smoothly. I can’t reiterate enough, thank you for your hard work,” Sanchez said.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com.
