The City of Gladewater’s Sept. 15 budget workshop began $37,328 in the red – the deficit was closer to $297,000 by the end of the night.
Pounding away at the numbers throughout the following days, city leaders aimed to have Budget Version 7 in balance ahead of another special session set for tonight.
At the same time, the council members, administrators and department heads are concerned the “stability budget” for Fiscal Year 2026-2027 – with no raises, no Cost of Living Adjustment, no changes in compensation for firefighters and police officers – will have a negative impact on the employee roster and, consequently, operations.
They’re working to avoid that, but various decisions, actions and complications have painted the city into a corner with less than a week until FY27 begins Oct. 1.
Notably, this article went to press before the council members’ Sept. 22 budget workshop and will hit newsstands after the fact. It was published online Tuesday morning at GladewaterMirror.com alongside other coverage of the council’s discussions of the proposed tax rate and the position of City Treasurer / Human Resources Director.
“These are the hard times. We only have so many funds,” Mayor Brandy Flanagan-Shipp said. “We would love to fund everything. Our staff and crew deserve it.
“We unfortunately have to make really tough decisions.”
For the better part of four-and-a-half hours last week, city leaders went through their latest budget projection department by department, line by line and, in some cases, item by item and person by person. It wasn’t until the last half-hour that the meeting started going off the rails, again, in what’s been a stormy budget season.
Regularly checking on the projected deficit, the municipality’s stakeholders made cuts where possible and increases when needed, simultaneously accounting for inflation.
The goal’s to minimize the impact on residents’ bank accounts without cutting into the services they receive. To that end, the council members are reticent to approve an increase to water rates – they accept the necessity, but they’re committed to keeping the number low.
No speakers addressed the elected officials during mandated public hearings on the budget and tax rate.
“Remember, we’re not wanting operations to be set back,” the mayor said. Addressing the room, “When budgets get adopted, those are legally binding,” and the council needs to base decisions on true numbers: “As we’re going through this, I really need everybody, up here included, to understand that. When we’re truly asking you – ‘Can we make those numbers work?’ – we need the truth from you. We need actual numbers that will work.”