QUIET PUBLIC HEARING ON BRENHAM BUDGET
Brenham City Councilmembers held a short meeting this (Monday) morning to offer the public a chance to comment on the city’s proposed budget.
No one from the public spoke on the budget for the 2019-20 Fiscal Year. The new budget balances out at $73 million.
Brenham Chief Financial Officer Carolyn Miller said there are a lot of new facets of this year’s budget.
The new budget accounts for a 7 to 8 percent increase in electric rates, a 4 percent increase in water rates, and a new drainage fee of $3.75 a month for residential customers.
Notable expenses in the new budget include $21.7 million in the general fund, $38.4 million for utilities, $2.9 million in debt service, and $1.9 million for the Brenham Community Development Corporation.
The council voted unanimously in approval of the budget. Second reading and official adoption of the budget will take place at the council’s meeting Thursday at 1 p.m., at City Hall.
The council also voted unanimously to levy the proposed property tax rate of 51.4 cents per $100 valuation. The rate is made up of 32 cents for maintenance and operations, and 19.4 cents for debt service.
While the new rate is slightly lower than the past rate of 51.7 cents per $100, the city expects to generate nearly $650,000 in new revenue, due to increased property values and new properties on tax rolls.
How would someone go about finding out about these meetings prior to them happening?
You’re kidding, right? On the off-chance you aren’t, I have very simple advice: read KWHI.com/category/news/ every day, or every couple of days. You can’t miss the repetitious notices… I thought.
No one speaks up for fear of their taxes going up even more! Seriously it won’t matter the city council is not going to not raise th budget. Be real.