Seabrook City Council held a special workshop on Tuesday, July 22 to review the draft fiscal year 2025–26 budget, which staff said covers roughly $52 million across all funds. City staff gave an overview of revenue assumptions, major cost drivers and a list of decision packages for council consideration; councilmembers discussed training stipends, event funding and capital and maintenance priorities and agreed on next steps.

The budget presentation, given by city staff, emphasized that property tax and sales tax are the largest general‑fund revenue sources, with staff saying property tax accounts for about 44.6% and sales tax about 15.4% of general fund revenue. Staff reported gross property valuations of roughly $2.0 billion and an estimated taxable base of about $1.9 billion; projected property tax revenue for the general fund was shown at about $6.9 million for the coming year. The staff presentation also showed a required emergency reserve equal to 25% of the general fund (about $3.7 million) and an overall reserve position that staff described as healthy given Seabrook’s coastal disaster exposure.

Gail (staff member), who led the presentation, highlighted staff work: "Mike and Kat did a ton of work," and described reserves as a precaution in case of disasters and delays in federal reimbursement. The presentation also noted that the city carries a committed $1.6 million port carve‑out, an unreserved balance of about $4.5 million and an overall reserve balance cited at roughly $9.8 million.

Personnel costs drove much of the proposed spending. Staff proposed a 1.5% general cost‑of‑living adjustment for non‑police employees, a 2.5% step increase tied to anniversary months for civilian staff, and a 3% market adjustment plus the 3% step for police pay grades. Staff also said health insurance renewal costs were substantially higher this year and that property and liability insurance rose about 7%, both of which constrained new position requests.

On department and program items, staff outlined a number of one‑time and recurring requests and cost changes: a $100,000 line for contracted studies tied to water and wastewater and impact fees; a $39,500 first‑year implementation cost (then about $24,000 annually) for a web‑based permitting and plan‑review software; an estimated $100,000 phased approach for digitizing city records; reductions in certain IT and event line items where prior one‑time projects will not repeat; and a proposed decrease in sidewalk contract funding from $100,000 to $25,000 for the coming year.

Public safety and utilities were recurring cost drivers. Staff said the city is paying a large one‑time implementation bill for a regional computer‑aided dispatch (CAD) consortium (described as roughly $150,000 carried forward, then about $50,000 per year thereafter). The budget also reflects the Seabrook portion of the volunteer fire department contract (shown as approximately $802,000) and continuing debt service tied to the fire station that staff said will drop off in about two years.

On enterprise funds, staff reiterated that Seabrook purchases treated water through a contract with the City of Pasadena and that water and wastewater rate and impact‑fee studies are scheduled as part of this budget (staff included $100,000 for those studies). Staff also flagged higher bank fees tied to growing electronic and credit‑card payments and noted those fees are being analyzed for inclusion in fee schedules.

Council discussion produced several staff directions (not formal ordinance votes): councilmembers agreed to keep funding for the State of the City program and to retain the city’s traditional contribution to the local Christmas boat parade and to the Harris County Mayors and Councils Association hosting line item for now; they also agreed to a preliminary 20% increase in the per‑member training/stipend bucket (the existing pooled council reimbursement had been presented at $13,200 total, about $1,700 per member as a historical figure). Council and staff set a follow‑up workshop to continue budget review once Harris County delivers certified tax rolls; staff said they expect to reconvene on July 30 to continue the review.

Staff identified a number of decision packages not included in this draft because of cost pressures, including additional public works positions, equipment replacement or new mowers, a proposed parks crew lead reclassification, and potential one‑time repairs at city facilities (including police‑station updates). Staff said prior‑year surpluses and stabilization funds could be used for some onetime items, and they proposed returning with prioritized requests after updated tax information arrives.

Why it matters: The council is balancing reserve and disaster‑preparedness needs with rising personnel and insurance costs and several anticipated capital and software investments; the workshop set preliminary policy directions on council training support and event funding and scheduled follow‑up to finalize the FY2025–26 budget and tax rate.

The council left the workshop with staff tasked to return with a more polished budget package for formal adoption steps, including a public hearing and ordinance adoption once tax data from Harris County is certified.