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MURFREESBORO – The town of Murfreesboro’s operating budget for Fiscal Year 2025-2026 (FY26) was approved by Town Council during their meeting on June 17.

Over the past few months, the council has held work sessions to iron out the details of the proposed budget. A public hearing was held at Tuesday’s meeting for citizen input on the budget, but no one in attendance chose to speak.

Council member Jay Revelle motioned to adopt the FY26 budget, and Mike Bunch seconded. The vote was unanimously in favor.

Mayor Hal Thomas and other council members thanked Town Administrator Carolyn Brown and her staff for their hard work in getting the budget prepared for the new fiscal year.

For the FY26 budget, the ad valorem tax rate will be set at 66 cents per $100 of valuation. That rate has remained the same for more than a decade now.

The town’s total operating budget will be $4,292,000, which is an increase of about $271,000 from FY25. That total amount reflects the General Fund and the Water and Sewer (Enterprise) Fund.

For the General Fund, the town is projecting a total of $2,673,800, an increase of approximately $351,000 over the previous year.

The largest sources of General Fund revenue are expected to come from ad valorem taxes ($774,000), local sales tax ($500,000), and refuse fees ($400,000).

For General Fund expenditures, the departments slated to received the largest appropriations in FY26 include Police ($865,588), Sanitation ($409,895), Streets ($387,225), Administration ($284,547), and Fire ($241,254).

Compared to the previous year, Streets, Sanitation, and Fire all received increases in allocations while Police and Administration saw some decreases.

The town’s budget for the Water and Sewer (Enterprise) Fund will total $1,618,200, which is a decrease of $80,000 from FY25.

As usual, the majority of Enterprise Fund revenues are expected to come from charges for sewer ($800,000) and water ($735,000).

Expenditures for the Enterprise Fund are projected to be $803,933 for water; $460,976 for wastewater treatment, and $353,291 for sewer. The biggest change was a decrease of over $98,000 for water compared to the previous fiscal year.

The new budget will take effect on July 1 and end on June 30, 2026.