For fiscal year 2026-27, the city of Denton will spend about $12.1 million more on solid waste services, like recycling and trash collection, to keep up with city growth, according to a July 21 report from Denton Chief Strategic Officer Aimee Kaslik.

Diving deeper: In FY 2025-26, Kaslik’s estimates showed the city incurred $42.9 million in expenditures for solid waste. Preliminary budget projections for FY 2026-27 show the city plans to spend about $55 million on solid waste, an increase of about $12.1 million.

The increases are primarily driven by new solid waste vehicles and hiring additional personnel, Kaslik said.

By the numbers: The vehicle replacement budget roughly doubled between FY 2025-26 and FY 2026-27 projections. The city spent about $3.46 million on vehicle replacements in FY 2025-26 and plans to spend about $7.3 million in FY 2026-27.

The vehicle replacements include collection trucks and landfill equipment, said Brenda Haney, the city's solid waste and recycling director.

Looking ahead: Council members will adopt the budget Sept. 22 following a Sept. 15 public hearing.

The U.S. Department of Transportation awarded the city of Denton a $1 million grant to develop an intelligent transportation system master plan, according to federal documents released in mid-June.

Some background: City officials submitted a Innovative Finance and Concession Grant application in September 2025. The grant is designed to fund public-private partnerships and find creative ways to use existing assets, according to the department's website.

“The funding will be allocated towards the development of the city of Denton's inaugural comprehensive Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Master Plan,” Denton Transportation Director Farhan Butt said in a social media post.

Looking ahead: The grant will fund the plan, which will integrate data analytics, sensors and communications into the city’s transportation infrastructure, according to a news release from the department.

With large parts of the state under an extreme heat warning or heat advisory through July 23, the operator of Texas’ independent power grid is projecting record-breaking electric demand this week.

What's happening: As of 3 p.m. July 22, there were 90,027 megawatts of demand on the grid with 113,543 megawatts of power available, according to the Electric Reliability Council of Texas' real-time supply and demand dashboard. One megawatt of electricity can power about 250 homes during peak times.

This would break ERCOT’s current demand record of 85.5 gigawatts, which was set during an August 2023 heat wave. ERCOT spokesperson Trudi Webster cautioned that this week’s demand records are preliminary.

What it means: Texans should not expect a grid emergency during this week’s extreme heat.

ERCOT previously projected that demand would surpass 92,000 megawatts this summer, due to high temperatures, moderate rainfall and the growth of data centers.

This week's triple-digit temperatures come during the sunniest parts of the day, allowing the state to rely in part on solar energy to power the grid.