City finances: where the money comes from, where it goes
Every number on this page is derived from the City of Sulphur Springs adopted budget for fiscal year 2027 (October 2026 – September 2027), a public document anyone can read. Here's the plain-language version — and the uncomfortable truth at the end of it.
Where the city's operating money comes from
The city's day-to-day operations run through the General Fund, which budgets about $16 million in operating revenue this year from three main sources. (The water, sewer, and sanitation utility is a separate operation funded by the rates its customers pay — your water bill isn't in this picture.)
- Property tax$6.5M (41%)
- Sales tax (the city's 1%)$6.3M (39%)
- Franchise fees, permits, court fines & other$3.1M (20%)
Figures rounded from the adopted FY 2027 budget. On top of operating revenue, the General Fund receives about $2.7 million in transfers and one-time items — mostly the utility fund paying its share of shared costs — bringing total resources to $18.7 million.
"The city just raises the tax rate whenever it wants more money."
For FY 2027, the council adopted the no-new-revenue rate — $0.40710 per $100 of value, the rate calculated under state law to bring in roughly the same property tax revenue from the same properties as the year before. And notice the chart: sales tax nearly matches property tax. Every dollar spent at a Sulphur Springs business — including by visitors passing through on I-30 — is a dollar of city services your property taxes don't have to cover.
Where the money goes
The adopted FY 2027 General Fund budget spends about $19.3 million. Nearly half goes to public safety — police and fire protection are around-the-clock, people-intensive services, and they are the city's first job.
- Police$5.4M (28%)
- Fire$3.4M (18%)
- Streets & public works$1.3M (7%)
- Parks & library$2.2M (11%)
- Equipment & capital outlay$2.1M (11%)
- Running the government & everything else$5.0M (26%)
"Running the government & everything else" is administration, finance & tax, municipal court, community development, building maintenance, the library's parent services, contingency, and economic development agreements — the required machinery of a functioning city, not a slush fund. Street reconstruction is funded separately: about $1.4 million in the dedicated Street Improvement Fund plus $2.4 million of street projects in the Capital Projects Fund this year. Debt payments (about $1.8 million) run through a separate Debt Service Fund, paid from a dedicated slice of the property tax rate.
Now the uncomfortable part
Add it up: $18.7 million coming in, $19.3 million of spending, plus $2.8 million in transfers to other funds. The adopted FY 2027 budget plans to draw roughly $3.4 million from the city's reserves to balance — at a tax rate the council held at no-new-revenue. The city's savings can absorb that this year. It cannot absorb it every year. There is no hidden pot of money for new parks, more street rebuilds, or a bigger library. The flexible money is already spoken for — which is exactly why the question of growing the tax base matters so much right now.
Read the budget yourself
The adopted FY 2027 budget (Ordinance No. 2903, adopted September 16, 2026) is a public document — about 112 pages, with every department and every fund laid out. It's available on the city's Finance Department page, along with the independent annual audit. If you find a number on this page that doesn't match the budget document, email me and I'll correct it — the documents control, not my summary.