Texas Border Business
EDINBURG, Texas — At its meeting on September 15, 2026, the Edinburg City Council approved a balanced General Fund budget totaling $96.7 million and a total budget for all funds totaling $174.7 million—adopting for the first time a tax rate below the no-new-revenue rate. The budget was achieved entirely through standard operating revenues, without reliance on federal relief or pandemic recovery funds, such as ARPA funding. This reinforces the City’s commitment to financial responsibility while continuing to invest in infrastructure, public safety, and quality-of-life initiatives.
Property Tax Rate Remains Stable: A central feature of the budget is the decision to maintain the property tax rate at $0.6300 per $100 of assessed valuation, with no increase. This marks the lowest recorded tax rate since 1991, providing stability for residents as the City continues to advance critical community priorities without increasing the financial burden on taxpayers.
Investing in Our Workforce & Historic Wage Milestone: The defining highlight of this budget is the establishment of a competitive $15-per-hour baseline wage floor for full-time employees across the organization. This milestone advances the City’s commitment to living wages, raising starting pay from $13.38 to $15 per hour and delivering raises to 174 essential frontline positions—including custodians, groundskeepers, sanitation workers, and support crews.
“Edinburg is setting a high standard for our region by ensuring every city employee earns at least $15 an hour,” Responsible financial management is essential, but at its heart, this budget is about caring for the dedicated staff who keep our city running every day. Raising our base wage provides meaningful relief to the frontline workers and families who need it most, ensuring they can thrive without adding extra strain on our taxpayers.”
Mayor Omar Ochoa
Improving Neighborhoods, Water, and Roads: Critical funding will directly target daily essentials, from reliable clean water to safer roadways:
- Streets & Facilities: The city is maintaining funding for street improvements and alley repairs, and creating a new Director of Public Facilities position to expertly manage city facilities and properties.
- Water and Sewer Infrastructure Upgrades: The City is allocating funds to modernize and repair aging infrastructure across its water and wastewater treatment plants, pumping stations, and waterlines. To proactively manage local growth, the City is also launching comprehensive Water and Wastewater Master Plans to guide long-term utility planning.
Upgrading Solid Waste Operations: To keep up with city growth, Edinburg’s landfill operations are receiving heavy-duty machinery—including new industrial bulldozers, a landfill compactor, and four large dump trucks—to maintain clean, efficient waste management for the community.
These investments ensure that Edinburg’s water, wastewater, solid waste, and transportation infrastructure remain reliable, efficient, and capable of supporting growth.
Technology: The budget allocates additional funding to improve IT infrastructure citywide.
Recreation and Quality of Life: The City is making targeted improvements to community amenities. Key improvements include installing a new play structure, upgrading building exit doors and frames, and modernizing pool infrastructure with a new pump house and advanced UV filtration technology. Funding is also allocated for portable restroom trailers to better accommodate visitors at city functions and sporting events.
“This balanced budget reflects our commitment to fiscal responsibility while investing in vital infrastructure, strengthening public safety, increasing our baseline wage floor, and providing amenities that make Edinburg thrive,” Mayor Ochoa said. “I am deeply grateful to our City Management and Finance teams for their extraordinary work in crafting this budget. Thanks to their dedication, we are prioritizing our workforce and community without raising the tax rate.”
