Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.
The Fredericksburg City Council held a special meeting on September 8, 2026, at 9:00 AM at City Hall to conduct public hearings on the proposed tax increase and Fiscal Year 2027 budget, discuss the use of general fund reserves, and consider the Convention and Visitor Bureau (CVB) funding agreement. The meeting included a presentation by Finance Director Krista Wareham and public testimony.
General Fund Reserves (Item 2C): Council discussed potential uses of general fund reserves to cover unbudgeted expenses. Councilmember Watson supported waiting until after budget approval, while Councilmembers Eidson and others favored using reserves for specific projects. Proposed uses included $350,000 each for police and fire renovations (the fire chief noted $350,000 would allow interim steps such as additional bunk rooms), $500,000 for a traffic signal on French Lane (with direction to staff to determine the most critical location), $250,000 for tennis court lights (cited as a safety liability), and additional park projects. Councilmember Watson expressed support for a total of $1.5 million, while Councilmember Klein favored up to $1.5 million combined. Mayor Briley noted that if the council adopted the voter approval tax rate, it would generate $800,000 in additional revenue, reducing the amount drawn from reserves.
CVB Funding Agreement (Item 2D): City Attorney Barbara Quirk reported that three requested revisions had been made to the agreement and that a provision allowing the city to exit the agreement annually had been added. However, final copies had not been circulated. Councilmember Watson moved to table the item until September 15, 2026, to allow review. The motion passed unanimously, and it was noted that the CVB agreement must be signed before the budget vote.
Tax Rate and Budget Presentation (Items 2A and 2B): Finance Director Krista Wareham presented updated revenue and expense figures. The proposed voter approval tax rate is $0.260884 per $100 valuation (up from the current $0.227427), which would generate $9.8 million in property tax revenue. The no-new-revenue rate ($0.241342) would yield $9.2 million. For a median-valued homestead ($450,690), the tax increase would be approximately $88 per year. Wareham noted that the proposed budget reflects a 3% revenue increase and flat expenses year-over-year, with 78% of general fund revenue coming from sales tax (34%), property tax (33%), and NLU transfers (11%). Personnel costs account for 56% of general fund expenses. The voter approval rate includes a $300,000 unused increment from 2023 that will not be available next year, but going below voter approval this year would create a similar increment for 2026. Councilmembers expressed differing preferences: Watson supported the voter approval rate, while Councilmember Neffendorf and Klein favored the lower rate of $0.246646 (which would generate $9.335 million and leave a surplus of about $150,000). Mayor Briley noted that using the voter approval rate would reduce reliance on reserves.
It is nine o'clock, September 8th. We welcome to the special session uh primarily around the uh budget in open hearings uh for comments. Um before I call the meeting to order, though, I do want to acknowledge uh this week is the 25th anniversary of 9-11, and I just wanted to pause for a brief moment before we do that. So with that, I will now call the meeting to order. Um we're gonna start off. Uh I believe we're gonna move a couple of items around. We have one council member that may have to leave a little bit early. So I'm gonna jump down to item two C discussing possible action related to the use of general fund reserves to cover additional unbudgeted expenses. So I will open it up for council comments and thoughts. I uh depending on the tax rate we settle on, uh, and I'll just let everybody know I'm for the voter approval rate. Um I think that uh rushing a decision on using general fund reserves between now and September 15th would would uh I'd rather see us wait and have a discussion with it after the budget is approved. Um, and if we decide to use it, we can always uh approve approve it and then uh approve it again for the mid at the mid-year budget uh amendments. So um I think we need more time to decide what we want to use the fund zone and how much we want to use if we use any at all. Thank you. Thank you. Todd, any thoughts, comments? Yes, I I agree with Councilman Watson on having further discussion. However, I will say I would be in favor of using reserves for uh city hall renovate the old city hall renovations for police and fire, which are not in the budget currently. Is there uh there were a couple numbers that were mentioned? I think uh fire was between a million to two million, and police were somewhere around 350, give or take a little bit. What are your thoughts on I would I'd be in favor of giving them both 350? Both 350. Correct. Okay. Thank you for that. Gary, um, your thoughts, please. Uh I'm in favor of using 1.5 million. Uh as Todd said with uh city hall renovation. I think we need to plan for one traffic signal on French lane. So that would be half a million, and then to finish out 1.5 million. I'm sure there's some park project we can find that we could do. So I would be in favor of those three. I'm not sure that any period of time would change my mind. I I could I could vote on this next week, but uh if we need to wait, then we can wait. But I'd rather move on. I'd rather put it on the record and put it out there for so that we can work on it during the year. Thank you, Tony. Well, I would I would too uh agree to use some of those funds for the traffic light and for the renovation. I'm still questioning at City Hall how much uh uh I'm always amazed when you want to start moving rooms or offices or what else. Uh can't you know we we survived in that building before, so why are we doing so much renovation and the cost of that?