The Killeen City Council approved a $268 million budget for the fiscal year 2022, which begins on Oct. 1, 2021 and ends on Sept. 30, 2022.
Updates during the Sept. 14 passage include an additional Animal Control and Code Enforcement Officer, delegating funds from the American Rescue Plan to local nonprofits and mental health programs, increasing street maintenance fees to $10 a month and helping local nonprofits and parks, among other changes.
The new 2022 fiscal budget includes:
- A tax rate decrease to $0.7004 per $100 valuation ($0.5119 for maintenance and operations and $0.1885 for debt service). The current rate is $0.7330.
- Water and sewer rates increasing about 84 cents for residential customers who use about 2,000 gallons a month; Increase for the average residential customer using 5,000 gallons monthly is $1.47 a month.
- Street maintenance fee of $10 a month per single-family equivalent that is expected to generate $9.6 million annually.
- More than 90 projects funded through the Capital Improvement Plan, totaling nearly $70 million.
The increased water rate will provide an additional $1.5 million annually to address water and sewer infrastructure capital maintenance.
The increased street maintenance fee will generate additional revenue to increase the annual street maintenance budget from $1.7 million to $4.3 million, provide approximately $4 million annually for street reconstruction and repay a $24 million bond issue for street reconstruction.
A budget public forum was held that provided a detailed look at the proposed budget. Three public hearings were held for the public to join in and participate. The proposed budget was also available for public inspection in the Killeen Public Library, City Hall and on the City’s website, killeentexas.gov.