City leaders in Killeen met at the city council meeting Tuesday evening to introduce the 2018 fiscal year budget.
Killeen faced an $8 million budget crisis in 2016 that allegedly resulted from misuse of funds. An audit is currently underway to get to the bottom of the 2016 budget crisis.
However, in light of the 2018 budget, city manager Ron Olsen said city leaders learned from their past mistakes and were able to reach a balanced budget.
50 city positions -- most of them vacant -- will be eliminated as a cost saving measure. Half of those are vacant police positions.
Olsen acknowledged residents the lack of trust in city leadership and finances after the crisis in 2016. He said transparency with the 2018 budget is key and the staff worked around the clock in order to make it happen.
"Recently, there have been days where they have not gone home. They had to get their family to bring them a change of clothes because they were here all day, all night, all day again and that is extraordinary dedication."
There were also no tax rate increases or fee increases.
City council has until Sept. 20 to adopt a budget, and budget adoption is scheduled for Sept. 19.
The public can provide input about the budget at a series of public hearings scheduled August 22, September 5 and September 12 or may submit comments via email to citybudget@killeentexas.gov.
The budget, along with all supporting documents, presentations and notices will be available at killeentexas.gov/budget. Budget workshops will be filmed and made available on the webpage as well.