Arlington City Council Work Session and Budget Discussion - August 25, 2026
Arlington City Council Work Session and Budget Discussion - August 25, 2026
The Arlington City Council met in a special work session on Tuesday, August 25, 2026, beginning with an executive session at 11:30 a.m. and reconvening publicly at approximately 1:45 p.m. The session ended at 5:03 p.m. Key topics included updates on the Innovate Arlington comprehensive plan, ACTIV operations, the FY2027 audit plan, regulation of single-family shared rental properties, economic development strategies, and a detailed budget discussion. No formal votes were taken; direction was provided on several items.
Discussion Items
- Innovate Arlington Comprehensive Plan Update (3.1): John Chapman, Long Range Planning Manager, reported on Phase 3 engagement. Since June, the city created resource videos and council district scenario pages. The plan received a Texas Chapter APA Gold Award for public outreach. Four town halls held, with 165 residents attending. Feedback generally positive, but concerns raised about market demand, vacant land, sales tax leakage, and tree canopy loss. Two remaining town halls: August 31 (in-person) and September 1 (virtual). Refinement will continue through late 2026, with adoption anticipated in early 2027.
- ACTIV Operations and Performance Update (3.2): Gary Pack, Parks and Recreation Director, reported that the 73,000 sq. ft. facility (total project cost $65M) has exceeded membership projections. As of July, 282,000 visits, 15,000+ memberships, 2% cancellation rate. Members 86% residents. The facility is operating above capacity, especially on the active side. Challenges: expanding fitness class offerings due to instructor shortages, managing pickleball demand, and registering high-demand programs. Upcoming: parks master plan with cost recovery analysis, potential non-resident fee adjustments, and sponsorship opportunities (coffee vendor, pool/track sponsors). Goal to reduce subsidy to below $1M.
- FY2027 Annual Audit Plan (3.3): City Auditor Susan Edwards presented the proposed plan covering seven projects: external audit assistance, artificial intelligence audit, workers' compensation audit, access control audit, Flock safety utilization audit, IT department audit, and co-sourced construction audits. Also includes follow-ups on fire/police overtime and risk management. Staffing shortages noted (two vacancies). Audit plan will be presented for approval at the evening session.
- Single-Family Shared Rental Property (3.4): Alex Buskin, Code Compliance Director, identified a trend of investors converting single-family homes into multi-tenant rentals with added bedrooms (up to 7 bedrooms). Current enforcement challenging due to difficulty proving occupancy violations. Proposed options: (1) regulate bedroom sizes and number via building code, (2) adopt International Property Maintenance Code (IPMC), (3) limit leases to one per property and/or implement single-family rental registration program. Council expressed strong support for a rental registration program and directed the item to the Community and Neighborhood Development Committee for further refinement.
- Council Priority – Grow Our Economy (3.5): Marty Weeder, ED of Arlington Economic Development Corporation, reported on business plan progress, including the Japan-Texas economic summit, opportunity zone review, and a new BIRD matching funds program. Staff changes noted with Office of Economic Development moving to Office of Strategic Initiatives. Projects like Asia Times Square and Benton Plaza continue. Awaiting opportunity zone designation.
- Trash and Recycling Cart Storage (4.1): Informal staff report; no discussion. Mayor noted a suggestion to explore a second day of trash service (~$6-7/month more) but no council interest expressed. Current service level satisfactory.
- Economic Development Committee (4.2): Reports on film incentive program, small business program, and BIRD matching funds. Executive session discussion on business incentives noted.
- Arlington Housing Finance Corporation Update (4.3): Councilmember Hunter reported officer elections (President: Hunter, Treasurer: Garcia Dumas, Secretary: Shelton). Board recommended a recurring monthly report template for partner properties and approved a variance for Center Place Apartments.
- Appointments to Boards and Commissions (4.4): Four appointments on evening agenda. Councilmember Gonzalez pulled two CBA appointments for future meeting.
- Evening Agenda Items (4.5): Discussion of the Blackbird project at Mesquite and Abram. Lindsay Mitchell clarified funding structure: $9.6M cash grant from water utilities, up to $16.4M reimbursement for public improvements (from TURS), and up to $9.9M reimbursement for project costs (water utilities). Over 80% of funding goes to public infrastructure and city-owned assets.
- FY2027 Budget Discussion (4.6): Trey Overton presented six areas: homelessness funding, transportation (Sunday AOD service), water rates, debt service, tax rate, and budget options. Homelessness: ~$1.5M annually from HUD grants and city funds plus $4M in past Tomorrow Foundation grants. Transportation: adding Sunday AOD service would cost $550K–$900K. Water rates: average user (8,000 gallons) sees ~6.37% increase, but Arlington remains lowest in region. Debt: $1.4B total debt, but only 40% backed by property tax; city below all policy caps. Tax rate options: Proposed rate ($0.6298) vs. no-new-revenue rate ($0.636334). Moving to no-new-revenue would generate $2.2M. Options for use: (1) real-time crime center, facility gear, expanded homelessness services, facility asset management; (2) street maintenance plus future fire station 18; (3) just streets; or (4) stay at proposed rate. Council consensus leaned toward keeping proposed rate (no increase), citing three consecutive years of tax increases and potential one-time revenues from FIFA dividend, NTTA, and Tarrant County. Councilmember Garcia Dumas and Councilmember Shelton advocated for the no-new-revenue rate to fund services. No final decision; will be finalized by September 15.
- Tarrant County November Election Polling Sites (4.7): Councilmember Williams raised concern about proposed reduction of polling locations. Council discussed drafting a resolution opposing any reduction that hinders access. Councilmember Hogg and others cautioned against blanket statements. Councilmember Pham questioned cost to city if locations reduced. Mayor directed city attorney to prepare a sample resolution for future discussion.
- Issues Relative to City and TxDOT Projects (4.8): No discussion.
- Council External Committees (4.9):
- CVB (Galante): FY2026 financials $340K below budget; FY2027 budget $9.0135M approved; cultural tourism criteria updated to 85/15 split; Arlington set travel record with 16.5M tourists in 2025, $3.3B economic impact.
- NCTCOG Executive Board (Hogg): Discussed personnel investigation; outcome pending.
- RTC and Subcommittees (Gonzalez): Approved funding for zero-emission vehicles, FIFA luncheon, technology projects; $2M for two Arlington roadway safety projects; grant application for software for elderly/disabled transport.
- High-Speed Rail Subcommittee (Mayor Williams): Met with Fort Worth, Dallas, Trinity Metro; clarified positions on station location; plan to finalize environmental analysis with MOU; private funding needed; economic feasibility study available.
- Future Agenda Items (4.10): None.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes taken. Council directed staff on several items.
- Single-family shared rental regulation referred to Community and Neighborhood Development Committee for recommendations.
- FY2027 tax rate direction: Council majority preferred staying at the proposed rate ($0.6298) with no increase. Budget will be finalized after September town hall and readings on Sept. 8 and 15.
- Polling site resolution to be drafted for future council consideration.
- FY2027 audit plan to be presented for approval at the evening session.
Meeting Transcript
We're back with Arlington Eats. I'm Jeremy Thomas with My Arlington TV. On this episode, we are headed inside Couple Vibes where they are serving up more than coffee. They're looking to serve you right here in the community. We take pride in providing Southern hospitality. Our mantra is brewing community, serving culture, so we're really intentional about creating a welcoming atmosphere that feels like home. A home completed just this past October where owner and Arlington native Charlotte Sharp calls her customers her neighbors. The menu, it changes regularly, and it's really in response to what our neighbors communicate. We added that on the menu after he tasted. And so it wasn't until he approved that we added it to the menu. Customization is key with quick bites of food, their house refreshers, and a variety of chai teas. And so peach cobbler chai is very popular as well as your traditional chai. And then we have one called the perfect verse as well. Even with these items, Sharp says that they are more than just another coffee shop. They're here for your needs as she gives back to her hometown right here in the American Dream City. We're a place where we build community. We're also used for meetings, private meetings, birthday gatherings, there's been worship events here, book signings, and just various events. For me, it's all about the relationships. One thing kind of led to another very quickly. And as I was preparing my speech, I thought about so many of the people that have had an impact on my career. The love of baseball and the relationships it has afforded is what keeps me going after all these years. It's such a fantastic moment that I like I always feel I love her energy. I love her spirit. I love how she brings us all in together in this magnificent project that she's making us do like today. What if I I'm not gonna get it? What if I'm just gonna like go to that class and just not even do it? But I did. I I'm actually so proud of myself that I did push myself to do it. I totally recommend this class for basically for everybody, older women, young women, children. Compared and experience, so con los niños is demasiado gratificante. I was like, I'm gonna take that out of the Alright, everybody. We're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session of the city council reading to order. And uh hope everybody had a good weekend. So it was fun. Man, I did that loud enough, we got everybody's attention there. We're gonna go ahead and call the afternoon session of the city council back to order. We're gonna move on down to discuss our work session items starting with three point one, Mr. John Chapman. Welcome back, sir. All right, great to see y'all. Mayor Council, John Chapman, Long Range Planning Manager. Gonna dive right into it. Agenda today, what we've been doing since our June work session with y'all. Uh, process and engagement update, and the next steps. Since our June's work session, the biggest takeaway we heard help the community understand what Innovate Arlington is. We've created, we did three big things so far, and that's certainly doesn't say that we're finished doing that objective. Created resource videos for all of the chapters, helping all the elected and appointed officials through the summer understand what each of those chapters really represent and mean for Innovate Arlington, and those are now publicly available so that residents also have the chance to review those videos. And then creating council district scenario pages that have been created and published for each of the town halls that I'll get more into here in a little bit. Clear engagement materials, making sure that our town hall presentation was prepared for residents as the focus.
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