MIDLAND, Texas — This fiscal year for the City of Midland is coming to a wrap within the next coming weeks.
On Tuesday, City of Midland leaders voted on a proposed budget and tax rate for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. It marked the first reading, a second public reading will be held within the coming days before Oct. 1.
"Today being the first of two readings for this budget to be approved, I feel good about the fact that we had unanimous support from our Council and this is really, after several months of work with our city staff, our city staff is growing in efficiency and I'm really proud of the staff that we're working with," said Midland Mayor Lori Blong.
City Council agreed on a proposed city budget for the next fiscal year totaling $454,312,320. It would be a nearly $30 million difference compared to the FY2024 budget.
"Today what we considered was our general fund as well as the the remaining budget... the $176 million general fund budget, which includes all of our public safety for police and fire," Mayor Blong said. "It also includes a lot of the revenue for road improvements, maintenance and a lot of other projects."
The budget also includes enterprise funds related to the Midland International Airport, water and other items that are separate from the general fund.
City Council unanimously agreed on a proposed tax rate of 0.348862, which is not the same one adopted for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
"Keeping the rate the same as last year, we do have a little bit of extra revenue based on any new properties," said Christy Weakland, the city's director of finance. "But it does make it difficult to balance the budget and so there's been a lot of work done by all departments to tighten the purse strings a little bit to make the the budget balanced but it still provides the services to the citizens that are needed in a growing community."
During Tuesday's city council meeting, a presentation showed hearing dates for the budget and tax rate readings that would take place on Sep. 10. The final hearing would take place Sept. 17. However, Mayor Blong said the next reading will take place in two weeks.
NewsWest 9 will update the article if more information is provided.