City of Burleson Adopts FY 2025–2026 Budget

On September 8, 2025, the Burleson City Council formally adopted the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget, with a strong focus on addressing community priorities while maintaining fiscal responsibility.

Streets and Traffic Control: Top Community Priority

In the city's 2025 Public Budget Survey, residents identified streets and traffic control as their highest priority. In response, the adopted budget includes a dedicated portion of the property tax rate for street maintenance. A total of $0.0302 per $100 of assessed value is set aside exclusively for this purpose.

The city's total property tax rate for FY 2026 is $0.7218, which is divided into:

For the average Burleson home valued at $300,210 with the homestead exemption, this tax rate equates to an annual increase of $179.56-or about $14.96 per month-for the city's portion of the property tax bill.

Staff and Council cut $2 Million in General Fund

The General Fund-responsible for core services such as police, fire, EMS, streets, parks, libraries, and general administration-realized more than $2 million in savings this year. These savings were achieved through ongoing reductions, careful budget adjustments, and salary savings, allowing the city to stretch taxpayer dollars further.

Investing in Public Safety

Public safety ranked as the second and third highest priorities in the community survey, following streets. The FY 2026 Budget funds the addition of:

The police officer and arson investigator/fire inspector positions will be funded through the General Fund, while the three paramedics will be funded through the Medical Transport Fund (funding from the city's revenue from medical and transports).

Additional positions were also approved to support parks, recreation, and Hidden Creek Golf Course, but those will be funded through 4B sales tax revenues-not property taxes.

Utility Rate Adjustments

To ensure reliable service and prepare for future growth, the FY 2026 Budget includes modest utility rate increases:

Water & Sewer Rates: Increased by 5%. This increase reflects both pass-through rate adjustments from the City of Fort Worth (which supplies Burleson's water and treats the city's wastewater) and the need to replace aging infrastructure while planning for new system users.

Solid Waste Collection:

Looking Ahead

The FY 2026 Budget reflects the city of Burleson's commitment to aligning community input with responsible financial management. By dedicating funding for street maintenance, investing in public safety, managing utility infrastructure responsibly, and securing long-term savings, the city continues to focus on the priorities of the community.