Sugar Land, TX – Sugar Land City Council adopted a $478.2 million budget and a 35.31 cent tax rate for fiscal year 2025, which begins Oct. 1.
The budget was approved after a series of workshops and public hearings. Voters authorized the tax rate increase for projects included in the 2019 general obligation bond election. The approved tax rate increase funds voter-approved projects to address community priorities such as public safety, drainage and mobility.
Sugar Land has one of the lowest residential tax burdens per capita in comparison to peer cities, in addition to the fact that Sugar Land’s tax rate represents only a small percentage of the total average residential tax burden.
The budget includes $318.46 million for operations and $159.74 million for capital projects. The budget follows guidelines in the City Council-adopted Financial Management Policy Statements and focuses on strategies and priorities identified by residents to ensure Sugar Land remains one of the nation’s safest cities.
“With a continued focus on carrying out our trailblazing vision of creating a life better than our employees, residents and businesses can imagine, our priorities include operational efficiencies, continued investment in our workforce, public safety and infrastructure,” said Goodrum.
City Council’s strategic outcome areas are a focus of the budget. These areas are reflected in four “All-In Initiatives” that include commercial and residential redevelopment, data-driven decision-making, prioritizing future capital investments and trailblazing organizational culture.
“As a personnel-driven public safety and service provider, a key priority of our budget is to ensure that we are competitive with the market and fairly compensate first-responders and other employees,” said Goodrum. “Our budget includes funding to implement the updated compensation plan which reevaluated the city’s pay structure as we strive to pay our employees competitively to help attract, retain, and reward our high‐quality talent.”
The approved capital improvement program totals $723 million for 2025-2029, including $6.35 million of the remaining bond projects approved by voters in November 2019. The five-year CIP includes funding for FY25 projects such as the following:
- $2 million for streets rehabilitation projects;
- $32 million for Brazos River erosion projects;
- $24.8 million for distribution system water main rehabilitation projects, ground water plant rehabilitation projects, emergency generators, ground water storage plant rehabilitation projects, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems to support water infrastructure and elevated water storage plant projects;
- $46.9 million lift station rehabilitation projects and wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation projects;
- $9.7 million for surface water pump station rehabilitation projects;
- $12 million for joint participation in projects such as a Memorial Park splash pad, Gannoway Lake trails, Sugar Land Trail Phase 1 and Eldridge Park improvements; and
- $2.6 million for landscape replacement for major roadways and next generation Intelligent Transportation Systems -- an advanced application that aims to provide innovative services relating to different modes of transport and traffic management and enable users to be better informed and make safer, more coordinated and 'smarter' use of transport networks.
The budget includes planned utility rate increases of about 3 percent per month for residential customers. The new rate allows the utility system to keep up with the cost of inflation, avoiding larger future increases. Per the city’s contract, the current rate for solid waste services will increase from $20.84 to $21.88 per month and will take effect Jan. 1, 2025.
For more information, visit www.sugarlandtx.gov/budget.