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City bond projects on track
By Dave Pasley - Staff Writer
Boerne City Council members received updates on several building projects in a workshop session prior to the start of Tuesday’s meeting.
Police Chief Gary Miller said a new public safety building is on schedule, under budget and could be completed by April, 2010. Miller also reported that he expects to receive a $40,000 grant from the Alamo Area Council of Governments for a back-up generator.
Fire Chief Doug Meckel said work is getting under way on renovations and additions to the fire station that will take about a year to complete.
Parks and Recreation Director Linda Cornelius said that planning for the trails projects is on schedule and requests for bids should be ready to go out in October.
A consultant hired to design a new wastewater treatment plant reported on plans to receive and incorporate public input. David Hawkins with the engineering firm Lockwood, Andrews and Newman said two public input meetings will be held, one in September and one in October, and final programming guidelines will be presented to the city council in November. Assistant Public Works Director Don Burger said the plant is on schedule to begin operations by January 2012.
During the regular meeting, council members unanimously supported Mayor Dan Heckler’s appointment of Tom Wright to replace Ben Stafford on the board of directors of the Kendall County Economic Development Corporation. Stafford died in a car crash in July.
Wright is the director of manufacturing for Albany Engineered Composites and his term in office will expire in March, 2011.
Noting that the retention and expansion of Albany has been the EDC’s biggest success, Heckler said Wright has a unique personal perspective on the agency.
“He will be able to speak with authority,” Heckler said.
Council members also unanimously approved a one-year funding agreement with the KCEDC.
A months-long budget process came to an end with council members unanimously approving a $61 million spending plan.
The overall tax rate will remain unchanged at 44.22 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. However, Heckler pointed out that leaving the tax rate unchanged does result in a tax increase for any property owner whose property value increased from last year. Overall property values in the city increased 1.4 percent from last year.
Rates for all four utility services provided by the city will also increase. Wastewater rates will go up 15 percent, gas rates will increase 5 percent, water rates will increase 4 percent and electric rates will increase 3 percent.
Incorporating the 2007 quality-of-life bond issue into the budget while maintaining the same overall tax rate in a period of flattening property values and minimal new construction has resulted in some substantial shifts in funding priorities.
In 2007, before the first quality-of-life bonds were sold, more than 68 percent of Boerne’s property tax revenues went to fund city services such as police, street repairs and municipal court operations. In the budget adopted Tuesday that percentage is 57 percent. Spending for the fire department has also increased from $541,000 in 2007 to a projected $1.27 million in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2010.
As a result, spending for several city departments has been squeezed. Proposed spending for parks next year will be less than it was two years ago and the budgets for municipal court, streets, animal control, facilities and emergency operations, convention and community center, communications, library and the cemetery are all less than they were last year.
The police department is the city’s largest department and spending there will increase 2.3 percent over last year’s budget.
Police Chief Gary Miller said a new public safety building is on schedule, under budget and could be completed by April, 2010. Miller also reported that he expects to receive a $40,000 grant from the Alamo Area Council of Governments for a back-up generator.
Fire Chief Doug Meckel said work is getting under way on renovations and additions to the fire station that will take about a year to complete.
Parks and Recreation Director Linda Cornelius said that planning for the trails projects is on schedule and requests for bids should be ready to go out in October.
A consultant hired to design a new wastewater treatment plant reported on plans to receive and incorporate public input. David Hawkins with the engineering firm Lockwood, Andrews and Newman said two public input meetings will be held, one in September and one in October, and final programming guidelines will be presented to the city council in November. Assistant Public Works Director Don Burger said the plant is on schedule to begin operations by January 2012.
During the regular meeting, council members unanimously supported Mayor Dan Heckler’s appointment of Tom Wright to replace Ben Stafford on the board of directors of the Kendall County Economic Development Corporation. Stafford died in a car crash in July.
Wright is the director of manufacturing for Albany Engineered Composites and his term in office will expire in March, 2011.
Noting that the retention and expansion of Albany has been the EDC’s biggest success, Heckler said Wright has a unique personal perspective on the agency.
“He will be able to speak with authority,” Heckler said.
Council members also unanimously approved a one-year funding agreement with the KCEDC.
A months-long budget process came to an end with council members unanimously approving a $61 million spending plan.
The overall tax rate will remain unchanged at 44.22 cents per $100 of assessed valuation. However, Heckler pointed out that leaving the tax rate unchanged does result in a tax increase for any property owner whose property value increased from last year. Overall property values in the city increased 1.4 percent from last year.
Rates for all four utility services provided by the city will also increase. Wastewater rates will go up 15 percent, gas rates will increase 5 percent, water rates will increase 4 percent and electric rates will increase 3 percent.
Incorporating the 2007 quality-of-life bond issue into the budget while maintaining the same overall tax rate in a period of flattening property values and minimal new construction has resulted in some substantial shifts in funding priorities.
In 2007, before the first quality-of-life bonds were sold, more than 68 percent of Boerne’s property tax revenues went to fund city services such as police, street repairs and municipal court operations. In the budget adopted Tuesday that percentage is 57 percent. Spending for the fire department has also increased from $541,000 in 2007 to a projected $1.27 million in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2010.
As a result, spending for several city departments has been squeezed. Proposed spending for parks next year will be less than it was two years ago and the budgets for municipal court, streets, animal control, facilities and emergency operations, convention and community center, communications, library and the cemetery are all less than they were last year.
The police department is the city’s largest department and spending there will increase 2.3 percent over last year’s budget.
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