Gatesville council opens budget season, reviews goals and planning priorities

Gatesville leaders opened budget season with the issue residents will feel first: whether to keep the property tax rate at $0.56000 per $100 valuation, a move that would leave the average homestead owner paying about $28 more a year than under the no-new-revenue rate. At a special retreat at 110 N. 8th Street, the City Council and staff also looked back at last year’s scorecard, where seven of 13 goals were completed and six remained in progress.

City Manager Brad Hunt, who was hired as Gatesville police chief in February 2023, became interim city manager in May 2024 and was formally appointed in September 2024. He used the retreat to walk council members through the city’s broader planning pipeline, including updates to the comprehensive plan, the zoning ordinance, the parks master plan and the downtown historic district listing. Those items are already shaping the next budget as Gatesville manages a $33 million fiscal 2026 budget, more than $53 million in assets, 93 full-time employees and 46 part-time and seasonal workers.

The downtown district carries added weight for the Coryell County seat about 40 miles from Waco. Gatesville’s downtown was recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places, and one local account says the district includes 87 resources dating from the late 19th century through the early 1970s, a designation that could open Historic Tax Credit opportunities for developers. That makes downtown redevelopment part preservation project, part economic development tool, and part test of how well the city can convert growth into long-term tax base.

Council members also revisited the goals set in the previous budget cycle. Two major financial items were marked complete: keeping the property tax rate at 0.56 cents and developing a way to recover costs for treated water sold to regional customers. Still underway are the Capital Improvement Plan, grant funding for infrastructure and community resources, including parks, the police station and water and wastewater work, retail and development efforts, and options for a new police department facility. One parks master plan item was deferred to a future year.

The budget discussion arrives as sales tax receipts and development interest have stayed strong. Hunt told the Lions Club in February that project interest had grown from seven in July 2024 to roughly 20 to 30 by April 2025, and city officials say Gatesville’s combined sales tax rate remains 8.25 percent, with 1.5 percent going to the city and 0.5 percent to Coryell County. The city was set to receive $317,572.16 in May sales tax revenue, up 6.45 percent from May 2025. For now, the retreat set the framework for the year ahead, with tax rates, water costs, capital projects and public safety spending all still in play before the budget is locked in.