City Manager Britt Lusk gave a presentation at the PointBusiness Breakfast on Sept. 23 about “Budget, Growth & the 2027 Legislative Outlook.”
Lusk explained that the city’s General Fund budget is $14.52 million, up about a million dollars from last year because of growth, with more than half of that money going to the police and fire departments.
“It's really important when we just look at our taxes and we look at what we're doing to realize that 54.9% of that is public safety,” Lusk said.
This year's tax rate remained flat at about $0.61 per $100 valuation, and property values dropped about $3,800 overall, so the average tax bill decreased by about $23, Lusk said.
Lusk explained that the notice posted in the Post-Signal said “tax increase” because the city made more money this year from taxes because of the new growth, so it’s considered a tax increase by the state.
According to the 2020 census, the city had a population of 4,381, and as of Jan. 1, 2026, it’s at 9,454.
From January to August, the city has issued 411 certificates of occupancy for homes, and he estimates that the city has surpassed 10,000 people.
Nearly 3,200 homes are in the early stages of development and could bring over 8,000 new residents, based on the city’s 2.53 persons-perhousehold assumption.
“So the good news is, since this is the business breakfast, you're going to get a lot more customers,” Lusk said. “The bad news is, like everybody in Pilot Point feels, we're getting a little more crowded. We are bringing more people, and it's a double-edged sword.”
As the 2027 Legislative Session approaches in January, Lusk shared Governor Greg Abbott’s latest property- tax agenda.
He explained that some of these changes would affect how the city pays for infrastructure and could create funding challenges, including:
•No. 1 “Voter rollback power—give voters stronger tools to roll back local tax increases;” •No. 2 “Local Spending limits—impose new limits on growth in local government spending;”
•No. 3 “Two-thirds voter approval—requires twothirds voter approval for local tax increases;”
•No. 4 “Appraisal predictability— change the appraisal system to make future values more predictable;”
•No. 5 “Appraisal growth limits—further curb appraisal growth for property owners.”
Although the city has a good working relationship with the state legislators, Lusk said, everyone needs to speak up about how these changes wouldn’t only impact the city but “impact everybody in them,” including the extraterritorial jurisdiction.
One matter Lusk is monitoring is changes to the ETJ and Senate Bill 2038, which allows an area to be released from a municipality's ETJ by petition or election.
“If they decide to stay out here and they want to get out of the ETJ, out of the city limits, if they're right here, they're still coming to Pilot Point,” Lusk said. “They're still using your police [and] your parks, and we don't have any funding to support that.”
That includes sales tax and property tax.
One example Lusk shared is how Senate Bill 2038 affects the city's control of data centers.
If the development were to deannex from the ETJ, the city would have no say in what happens.
“It's vitally important that we … work with developers so that we can move them into the city limits, so that we can serve that population, so that we can continue to fund the things that you love and care about with our city,” Lusk said.
He added that there might be another discussion at the next council meeting about creating a resident committee for governance to monitor and discuss statelevel bills that would have a direct impact.
