The Denison City Council came together Friday morning to discuss what projects the city plans to pursue over the next fiscal year. The city hosted its annual budget retreat — one of its major planning meetings for the annual budget season.

Here are five things to know about Friday’s budget discussions:

1. Denison considers five-year plan for street repairs

In an effort to address needed street and road repairs, city leaders proposed creating a five-year plan for maintenance. The proposed plan comes as the city recently commissioned a pavement condition study to determine the need for future repairs in the near future.

“The number one priority for infrastructure is to develop a five-year maintenance plan for our streets,” Interim City Manager Bobby Atteberry said.

In describing a potential plan, Atteberry referred to an initiative by city staff nearly a decade ago where the city leveraged multiple years of its funding through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant program to finance extensive street maintenance.

“We were able to do quite a few things with that $1 million, but we haven’t been able to get to that level again since then,” Atteberry said.

In recent years, the city has made efforts to invest funding each year for street repairs and maintenance. In the 2023-2024 fiscal year, the city invested about $500,000 in maintenance with an additional $700,000 in the current fiscal year.

This year, Atteberry said he hopes to reach the $1 million threshold once again.

“I am going to shoot for $1 million,” he said. “So, I am going to continue to try and push that number up as we do forward so that we can do more.”

Atteberry said the city is considering its options on how to finance the annual street maintenance. One option that many cities use it to leverage a portion of its sales tax revenues in the form of a street maintenance tax. The city of Sherman utilizes a similar program for its street maintenance by using one-eighth of a cent in sales tax for roadwork.

2. New fire station tops facilities discussions

For the upcoming year, the city is expected to focus its energy on preparing for a new fire station. Atteberry said the city is currently in the design phase of work for the city’s fourth fire station.

The new station will cover portions of Northwest Denison, including the Preston Harbor development.

“We are hiring an architect as we speak to do the design on that,” Atteberry said. “It will certainly not be built in this year. We will get the design done this year and then, looking out about probably two more years, we will have to start construction on the fire station.”

The work on the station represents an ongoing focus on city facilities. In addition to the new fire station, the city has been planning for the remodel of the central fire station that will modernize the aging facility. Other efforts include work on the Waterloo Pool and repairs to the roof of the Denison Police Station.

3. Code compliance sees focus in 2025-2026

Another area that is expected to see attention in the upcoming budget cycle is the city’s ongoing code compliance efforts. Atteberry said beautification and code enforcement have been focuses of the city council for several years, but he wants to step up efforts in the upcoming year.

“I don’t feel like we’ve made enough headway there. So, I want to drill down a little bit, put more fucos on that and try to get our gateways up in good shape so that when people come into Denison for the first time they leave with a good impression of how we take care of our right-of-ways,” he said.

These efforts will focus on the city’s major thoroughfare and gateways into the community along with areas that are frequently travelled and seen by visitors.

4. A plan for staff succession

In recent years, the city has focused on increasing employee compensation and benefits amid retention and hiring issues. Now that the city has made headway on this, Atteberry said he plans to formulate a strategy for moving staff into senior positions as openings occur.

“The council asked me to create a succession plan for our senior staff and that is difficult to do when you do not have the positions to hire two people for one position,” he said.

This will involve determining what staff members have the potential to move up within the city’s structure and work with them to prepare for future positions.

Atteberry said the city has made progress in resolving its staffing issues in recent years amid lagging compensation and competition from both neighboring and larger markets.

“We had a real gaping hole in our staffing because we didn’t pay enough to be able to get up there where we could compete. Last year, we improved the pay plan significantly,” he said. “It was the second year in a row that we have done that, and it has allowed us to close that gap.”

5. Denison considers alternative financing

Atteberry described the overarching theme of the 2025-2026 budget as bridging the gap with regard to financing. The city has embarked on multiple high-cost projects in preparation for growth and increasing need in the future. However, the ultimate funding mechanism for these projects will not be online yet prior to the city needing to start bond payments.

As a way to bridge that gap, Atteberry said the city is considering alternative funding mechanisms for future projects. One option the city is exploring is tax note financing, which Atteberry described as a low-interest, short-term loan. The city previously used this method to finance the new visitors center on Main Street.

Another option that staff is considering is utilizing longer durations than the city traditionally has.

“We are in the same situation that a lot of these fast-growing cities are in, in that we don’t have near enough money to do what we need to do,” Atteberry said. “So, we are having to stretch dollars everywhere we can. We are looking at creative financing, and we are looking to refinancing some things if we can do make things happen.”