City leaders prune initial budget draft

Nothing’s set in stone for the City of Gladewater’s upcoming budget, and local leaders are currently chipping away at the bulk in the financial plan for Fiscal Year 2026-2027.
“Overall, it’s probably going to be a tough budget,” Gladewater City Manager Charlie Smith told council members last week, “but we’ll do what we can do.”
The budget’s first draft included all the ‘wish lists’ gathered from all corners of City Hall. From the department heads to administrators and council members, everyone in the room July 30 knows the final version will be substantially leaner.
Granted, some things are harder to cut, Smith allowed.
For example, “There’s some equipment we’re going to need in public works and the fire department,” he noted.
Likewise, after careful adjustments to Gladewater Fire Department compensation the past several years, there’s a general aim now to make GFD salaries more competitive. That, and everything else, comes at a cost.
According to Gladewater City Treasurer Meghan Davis, the first, rough draft of the budget was built on total taxable values of $560,165,774. That number’s unchanged, but the city’s overall numbers are in flux after taking initial feedback from council members with more ahead at the second planning session Aug. 27,
Per Davis, “At the next budget workshop, we will be trimming all the fat to get where we are balanced.”