HOW TO READ THE PROPOSED BUDGET
From
City of Bayou Vista
Sent
Fri, Aug 28 @ 5:58am
Description
First, thank you to everyone who came out to the meeting last night. Budget nights are long and they are not entertaining, and the people who show up anyway are the reason this works. I appreciate every one of you who made the time.
The proposed budget is, or soon will be, posted on the city website. A copy is attached for your convenience.
It covers October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027. Several folks asked how to make sense of it, so here's a plain-English guide.
FIRST: this is a PROPOSAL. Council has not adopted it and has not set a tax rate. Those are separate votes still to come.
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THE MOST IMPORTANT THING: MONEY IN vs. MONEY OUT
The first page starts with REVENUES — money coming IN. It's the only section that does. Everything after that, from ADMINISTRATION EXPENSES onward, is money going OUT.
So if you're flipping through and see a big number, check which side of that line you're on. A big revenue number is good news. A big expense number may or may not be.
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WHERE THE MONEY COMES FROM
Ad Valorem (400) — property taxes. By far our largest source, roughly two-thirds of everything.
Franchise (401) — what utility companies pay for the right to run lines and pipes through city right-of-way. Electric, cable, gas.
Sales Tax (402) — the city's share of sales tax collected here. 402.1 is a portion set aside specifically for street repair.
Building Permit (403) — permits for decks, roofs, fences, bulkheads, plus contractor registrations.
City Other Revenue (405) — the catch-all. Refund checks, fees for open records requests, insurance reimbursements, sale of surplus equipment like retired police vehicles.
Interest (406) — what the city earns on money sitting in savings and investments.
Court Fees (407) — municipal court fines and fees.
Community Center Rentals (420) and Pool Passes (443) — exactly what they sound like.
Cash Reserves (453) — READ THIS ONE CAREFULLY. This is not income. It's a planned withdrawal from the city's savings, listed in the revenue column because that's how governmental accounting works. When you see a number here, the city is spending money it already had rather than money it's bringing in.
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WHERE IT GOES
ADMINISTRATION — city hall. Staff, utilities, elections, legal notices, supplies, software.
CONTRACTED SERVICES — work we hire out rather than staff. City attorney, accountant, municipal judge, landscaping, building inspection, code enforcement, the appraisal district.
POLICE DEPARTMENT — our largest single section. Chief and patrol salaries, benefits, vehicles, fuel, equipment, dispatching.
COURT — municipal court operations.
RECREATION COMPLEX — pool, lifeguards, community center, utilities and upkeep for both.
GENERAL SAFETY / MAINTENANCE — the widest section. Animal control, ambulance service, the fire department, street lights, drainage, road repair, city insurance, and capital projects.
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WHY SOME LINES HAVE DECIMALS
The left column is the Chart of Accounts — the city's filing system. A decimal breaks one category into its pieces. Line 703 is patrol officer pay; 703.1 is the payroll taxes on that pay; 703.2 is their health benefit; 703.3 is retirement. Same people, four different lines, because that's how the money has to be tracked.
So when you're adding up what something really costs, look for the decimals underneath it.
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THE FOUR NUMBER COLUMNS
1. 2025-2026 BUDGET — what we planned for this year.
2. AS OF JULY 2026 — what actually happened, October through July. Ten months of real numbers.
3. 2025-2026 YEAR-END EST. — where those ten months are projected to land by September 30.
4. 2026-2027 PROPOSED — next year's proposal. This is the column that matters.
Column 1 vs. column 2 shows where our estimates were off. Column 1 vs. column 4 shows what's changing.
A dash means zero. A blank means no figure for that year.
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THE LAST PAGE
Three lines at the bottom: total revenues, total expenditures, and the difference between them. That's the entire budget in three numbers.
One caution — remember line 453. If there's a withdrawal from savings up in the revenue section, it's already inside that bottom number.
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IF SOMETHING LOOKS ODD, ASK
Big jumps usually have a reason — a one-time purchase, a contract renewal, an insurance premium paid once a year instead of monthly. But not always. Questions from residents have caught real things before.
Council still has to adopt the budget and set the tax rate. This is done in an open meeting on SEPT 8th. Come sit in.
This notification was posted by City of Bayou Vista. City of Bayou Vista is solely responsible for this notification and unless specifically indicated, no other community or individual utilizing Savvy Citizen is sponsoring, responsible for, or endorsing this notification.
