A Message From Mayor Chris Riley

LETTER TO LEON VALLEY CITIZENS

From Mayor Chris Riley

September 19^th , 2025

WANTED TO LET YOU  KNOW…..   

Saturday, September 20^th – Special City Council meeting at 9 am in the city hall chambers for final consideration of raising the tax rate to $.545 to fund the city for Fiscal Year 2026.

Sunday, September 21^st - SUN DAY is a free one-day celebration of the sun’s power and the clean, affordable energy future it can produce.  Time:  11 am to 3 pm; Where:  ACCD Access Welcome Center, 2222 N. Alamo St. Join former Mayor Nirenberg and Rudy Garza, CPS Energy with David Martin Davies, for a conversation about solar power. Other presentations and information about solar power, electric vehicles and demonstrations are also included.

Weekends in September – Forest Oaks Community Pool is open from 10 am – Noon (Adult lap swim and water aerobics) and Noon – 8 pm.  Daily pass is $5.00.  The pool will continue to be open, weekends only, through September 28^th.

Tuesday, October 7^TH – ANNUAL NATIONAL NIGHT OUT – Please mark your calendars to have a simple gathering on your street for an hour or two (6-8 pm). This is a great way to meet your neighbors, your council members, city manager, police and fire department chiefs and staff. The Council meeting for that night has been cancelled. Please register at www.leonvalleytexas.gov. Deadline to register is October 2^nd at 5 pm.

                        CITY COUNCIL MEETING –September 16, 2025

      Special Thanks to the over 30 boys and girls from Boy Scout Troop 911 and American Heritage Girls Troop 1988, who met with the Mayor and Councilor Beth Mursch at 5 pm.  They were working on their Citizenship in the Community Merit Badge and asked many questions about our local government.  We were honored by the presence of our future leaders, who then led the Council and citizens in the Pledge of Allegiance.

          The following are highlights of council actions from the September 16, 2025 council meeting which began at 6:00 p.m. and ended at 10:19 p.m.

REGULAR AGENDA

Council Approved a Specific Use Permit (SUP) to allow construction and operation of a 160 foot telecommunications tower at 6004 Grissom Road – This was the second read of this ordinance,  postponed on August 5^th to expand notification to more residents in the neighborhood. The council went into executive session to receive attorney advice, after hearing from the applicant and citizens who live in the area. Verizon Wireless will own the tower with related antennas in a 50 X 50 square fenced area, and will lease approximately 10,000 sq. ft. within a 1.0 acre tract. It was determined the proposed tower will comply with all code requirements and a building permit is required before construction. The applicant did state Verizon would put a “stealth” box around the antennas for aesthetics’. The Council approved the SUP by a vote of 4 ayes and 1 nay.

Council Authorized the City Manager to Negotiate and Enter into a Chapter 380 Economic Development Agreement with Synergy Brothers, LLC for redevelopment of property located at 6802 Bandera Road – Council went into Executive Session to consult with the city attorney regarding the terms of the contract.  The City will provide Economic and Community Development funds to assist in demolition and construction of a new space for three tenants, waiving of permitting fees, plus sales tax rebates not to exceed $150,000.  This was approved by a unanimous vote of Council.

Council Discussed Amending the Solid Waste Collection Ordinance. The current ordinance states the city will pick up brush left over the 8 cubic yard requirement at no charge to the homeowner (Tiger Sanitation’s limit).  This expired in 2024 and needs to be updated. Council discussed the need to charge homeowners for excess brush like the City did when we had a contract with Waste Management. It was estimated that it took 100 hours of Public Works time to pick up leftover brush.  The City Manager will amend the contract to add a clause for homeowner charges at the next council meeting on October 21^st .

Conducted a Public Hearing on the City of Leon Valley Proposed Budget for Fiscal Year 2025 – 2026 & Conducted a Public Hearing on the Proposed Tax Rate –

        At the September 2^nd meeting, prior to adopting the .515 proposed tax rate, the city manager informed the council of a bill which was pending in the 2^nd special legislative session, SB 10, approving a 1% property tax increase cap, reduced from the current cap of 3.5%.  After a lengthy discussion, the Council directed the city manager to increase the proposed FY 26 tax rate of $.515, to $.545, from the FY 2025 tax rate of $.484.  On September 3^rd, the city manager informed the Council that SB 10 DID NOT PASS before the legislative session ended.  Increasing the tax rate 6 cents would increase ad valorem tax receipts by $347,483, which would add three additional firefighters, increase a Library employees’ hours, purchase bunker gear, uniforms and boots for the 3 firefighters, ending with a surplus of $3,575. The average property tax increase for the homeowner would be $169.30 if your home’s average value is $230,620. The Council voted 4 ayes and 1 nay to adopt the FY 2025-2026 Budget and Associate Capital Acquisition Plan (at the $.545 tax rate).

       Discussion centered around what the tax rate should be in light of SB 10 failing to pass in the legislative session.  The majority of Councilors, with the exception of myself and Councilor Heyl, expressed the desire to raise the rate to $.545, rather than a lower number between $.515 and $.545.  Concerns about the impact on young families’ budgets, the state of the economy, and the upcoming increase in water and sewer rates were reasons stated for only raising the rate to $.515.  Reasons for increasing the tax rate to $.545 were health and safety of our citizens, no additional firefighters have been hired since 1982 and significant growth has occurred since then, and there are more than 500 new homes to be built over the next 3-5 years. There was a public hearing on the tax rate and some residents who attended the meeting were in favor and some opposed to the higher tax rate.  Council voted by a vote of 4 ayes and 1 nay to set the tax rate at $.545 for FY 2026.  A second read as required by our Charter for final approval of the tax rate will be held on Saturday September 20^th at 9 am.

      The next regularly scheduled council meeting is Tuesday, October 21^st at 6 pm. There will be a presentation by Jim Lefko, Communications Director for Judge Peter Sakai on the Bexar County Referendum scheduled for November 4^th.  He will explain Proposition A – renovating the Frost Bank arena and Joe Freeman Coliseum grounds for a year-round venue ($200 million); and Proposition B – contributing no more than $311 million towards a new Spurs arena.  Both propositions would be funded with hotel/motel taxes (50 cent increase for hotel bill of $200) and car rental fees of 5%.

        The Council and I are here to serve you. Please do not hesitate to contact us if we can help in any way.

Sincerely, Chris

(210) 618-2092 (cell)

mayorriley@leonvalleytexas.gov