By Mary Ellen Leonard, Director of Fiscal Services
In recent years, College Station city leaders have managed our day-to-day operations while weighing the effects of inflation, supply shortages, the pandemic, and a historic winter storm on the city’s finances.
Understanding a $500+ million city budget is more complicated than opening a document and deciphering the numbers. That’s why the College Station City Council spends long hours scrutinizing the complexities in special workshops each summer.
Thankfully, the city now has a more straightforward way for citizens to grapple with allocating limited funds to nearly limitless needs, and we can see their feedback.
The Service Level Adjustment (SLA) Survey is an online tool that outlines some of the City’s key decision points for the FY26 budget. The tool enables you to express your budget priorities in an easy-to-use format accessible via computer, smartphone, or tablet.
Through the SLA Survey, you can rank the critical needs in the General Fund, the largest of about 120 funds in the city budget. Fiscal Services staff will compile the rankings and present your valued input to the City Council.
We are not asking you to balance the budget but to tell us what you think is important. We hope the budget tool’s ease will result in more timely public feedback as we finalize the budget in July and August.
How to Participate
When you enter the simulation, you’ll see a checkmark when you click on an item. Click the blue “i” for more details about the item and the comment bubble to share your thoughts.
Once you have marked the items you want considered, scroll to the ranking section at the bottom right. Simply drag and drop the items selected in the order of your priorities, with No. 1 being the most important.
Then click the submit button. That’s all there is to it.
We encourage you to take advantage of this easy way to learn more about our budget process and express your priorities. You can participate through Wednesday, July 9. In the meantime, we’ll be regularly checking your comments and input.
The City Council will get its first look at the proposed budget on July 7, followed by a workshop on July 16 and a public hearing on July 24. The tax rate public hearing and adoption of the budget and tax rate are scheduled for Aug. 28, and the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
For complete budget information, go to cstx.gov/budget.
If you have questions about the city’s budget or the SLA tool, contact me at mleonard@cstx.gov. I’ll be happy to help or hear your thoughts.
About the Blogger
Mary Ellen Leonard has been the city’s director of fiscal services since 2016. She previously was the chief financial officer for the Grub Burger Bar restaurant chain and operated her accounting firm for 14 years. A CPA since 1988, Mary Ellen has also served as a senior manager at Accenture and Arthur Andersen, CFO at Devereux Hospital, and senior financial analyst at Tenneco Gas Pipeline. She earned a degree in accounting from Texas A&M in 1986.
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