August is Budget Month for City Council

The San Marcos City Council will hold a series of meetings, workshops and public hearings throughout August to discuss the proposed 2009 municipal budget.

Special budget sessions are scheduled for Thursday, August 7 and August 14 at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Other budget hearings, discussions and votes will take place at regular meetings on Tuesday, August 19 and Tuesday, September 2, with final budget adoption slated for September 16. Those meetings start at 6 p.m.

On August 7, City Manager Rick Menchaca will present his proposed budget to the City Council for discussion and the City Council will vote on the proposed tax rate of $0.5302, the same rate as the current fiscal year.

The schedule of budget sessions includes:

• August 7: Budget presentation by City Manager Rick Menchaca and discussion of proposed 2009 budget; City Council vote on the flat tax rate.
  
  
• August 14: Public hearing on proposed 5% increase in water/ wastewater rates and second budget workshop, including consideration of funding outside agencies.
  
  
• August 19: First public hearing on tax rate and public hearing on the proposed budget; Workshop to discuss Compensation/ Classification study results.
  
  
• September 2: Second public hearing on the flat tax rate; second reading and discussion of proposed water/ wastewater rates.
  
  
• September 16: City Council will consider adoption of the 2009 budget and property tax rate on emergency and final reading of water/ wastewater rates.

The draft budget will be posted on the City’s web site at www.sanmarcostx.gov.

The City’s budget process began in January with a Community Summit, followed by a City Council Visioning Workshop on March 15. The City Council conducted a workshop on April 19 to draft the budget policy statement outlining major goals and expectations for the 2009 budget.

The policy statement was adopted on May 20 as a guide for City departments as they prepared their budget proposals for the new fiscal year. City Council established goals of economic development, improving the community’s image, enhancing the region’s transportation grid, and improving collaboration between the City of San Marcos and regional entities.

All budget workshops and meetings are open to the public and aired live on Time Warner Channel 10 and Grande Communications Channel 16. Sessions are also video-streamed live on the City’s web site.

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