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(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Graham City Council members Jeff Dickinson and Jack Little look over budget documents during a budget meeting held Thursday, Feb. 13. The city will host another budget workshop at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 22.
A public budget workshop with a presentation on the proposed property tax, water and sewer rates will be held for the Graham City Council this week.
The budget workshop will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, May 22 at the city council chambers located at 608 Elm St. in Graham.
During the meeting will be a presentation by City Manager Eric Garretty regarding an overview of the proposed fiscal year 2025-2026 budget with information regarding each fund. The city manager will also present a proposed property tax rate, water rate and sewer rate.
Additionally, the Graham City Council will hear review of pending budget requests and will provide guidance on further budget development.
The final proposed budget will be presented to the city council during their regular meeting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, July 17. This meeting will have a presentation on the proposed new tax rate and will set the date for a tax rate and budget public hearing.
“That’s going to be the first formal discussion on proposing a tax rate to support that budget. What the city manager is going to be bringing you is four cents on the hundred increase, about a 6% increase in the tax rate, is going to be my recommendation,” Garretty said in April.
A second reading on the tax rate and budget ordinances will be held at the regular city council meeting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, July 31.
The public hearing will be set for the regular city council meeting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 14 and later that month at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 28 the council will have a final reading and consider adoption of the new budget.
A public hearing on the proposed tax rate will occur after that meeting at 11 a.m. Monday, Sept. 8 and will be followed by a regular city council meeting at 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 11 for a third and final reading of the tax rate.
The city council must adopt a new fiscal year budget and tax rate no later than Tuesday, Sept. 30.
Along with the budget discussion will be a presentation of a new proposed alternative for a water pipeline to bring in raw water from Possum Kingdom Lake to the city’s water treatment plant.
The city council met in November 2024 and discussed three alternative sources of water which could be utilized which were leased water well fields, increasing the size of Lake Graham and using water from PK Lake.
“We need to keep our momentum going forward and look for an alternative, because if we don’t then what’s going to happen is, as soon as the lake starts dropping down to 60%, 50% again, the city is going to get asked, ‘What are you going to do about it?’ And my estimate is, we don’t have a good answer,” Garretty said in November.
