The Whitney City Council held public hearings on the city budget and tax rate and discussed funding sources for the library during a special meeting Thursday, September 11.
There were no public comments on the proposals during the hearings, and the proposed budget was approved. Council member Amy Teal voted no, council member Jason Ince was absent, and all other council members voted in favor of the budget.
The proposed tax rate of $0.5764 per $100 valuation is the no-new-revenue rate, which is the rate that will bring in about the same amount of revenue as last year, based on the same properties being taxed. As property values rise, the no-new-revenue rate goes down to offset the increase.
This year’s calculations show that the median value of a homestead in the city is $148,716. Under the proposed rate, taxes would be about $857 on that amount. That is a decrease from the current tax bill of $967.
The council then discussed the library’s funding. Teal said that Library Director Christie Rogers helped to reduce the library’s budget when city staff was asked to work within the no-new-revenue rate to provide tax relief. She asked Rogers to provide a breakdown of the library’s funding sources.
Rogers said that library funding is a community effort, and primary parties involved are the city, the Lake Whitney Public Library Foundation and the Friends of the Library.
The city covers expenses and purchasing for the library, and the library budget came to approximately $155,000 in the adopted budget. The foundation, which owns the library building and land, has provided funding for improvements. The Friends of the Library supports the library’s special projects, such as children’s programming, through fundraising efforts.
The library property was donated to the foundation and city by the family of Weldon and Frances Triplett, who were longtime residents of a home on the property and supporters of the community. The 2009 donation agreement specifies that the property must only be used as a city library, and the city agreed to maintain the property and pay for utilities and salary of library staff.
Teal said that the library foundation had not yet provided financial statements to the city prior to the meeting to adopt the city budget. Rogers said that the foundation’s meeting is in October, after which numbers will be available. Teal also questioned whether the contract has been followed.
Operations Director Billy Pribble said that it seemed like there were concerns that the foundation should be picking up more of the tab for library expenses, but he said that everything in the budget with the exception of about $4,000 for library books clearly meets the terms of the agreement.
Pribble said one thing that does need to be addressed is the city’s old library ordinance from 1994 not being updated when the 2009 agreement went into effect. He said that this has been a common theme as he has gone through old ordinances that were never properly updated in the past. “This city has evolved to the point where we can’t have multiple documents regulating an entity that conflict, and we’ve seen that time and time again,” he said.
He encouraged the council to educate themselves on the agreement and ordinance and let him know how they should be aligned.
Council member Cheryl Taylor-West said that the library was the first place she joined when she moved to Whitney and said that it is important to all age groups in the community. “If it came to cutting anything out of the library’s budget, I would absolutely say no,” she said.
Teal said that it is not a fun discussion to have, but added that at some point the city has to figure out how to pay for streets and the wastewater plant. She said that the library budget is not a lot of money for a library, but it is a lot of money for city residents. “I look forward to finding out how we can find ways to mitigate that,” she said.
Tony Silas, a representative of the Triplett family, also spoke to the council. “We’ve been very proud that Whitney has this library, and we are very concerned and interested to see that it continues to have a library,” he said. “It’s a beacon for the city of Whitney, it’s beautiful, and it’s very much a resource for people who may not have resources to do things on their own.”
Council members also voted to seek support from the Texas Municipal League for legislation clarifying the ability of Type A general law cities to accept donations. Teal has been asking for clarification on whether the city can accept donations for projects to alleviate the burden on taxpayers.
Pribble said that state law currently does not clearly allow small cities to accept donations for anything other than parks and recreation. The city is seeking an attorney general’s opinion on the matter, but if it is found that the city cannot accept donations, the legislative effort will be a backup plan.
The council voted in favor of the resolution seeking support, with Valery Peacock abstaining.
In other action, the council approved a revised park board ordinance as the city looks to reorganize a board. The board will consist of five members, including a member of the WWFL.
A request submitted by Texas Takeover, an area select baseball league, to use the city park for practices was tabled. The league requested field access on Tuesdays and Wednesdays through November 3. Pribble said that WWFL has field priority, and he was told that WWFL had not been approached by the league. If the request is approved, the city would charge fees under its adopted fee schedule. The issue will be discussed at the council’s next meeting.
In open forum, Harrell Wilson spoke to the council and said he is concerned about street conditions and taxes. He encouraged the city to figure out a way to attract new businesses to take the tax burden off of the elderly and people who are struggling with tax bills.
The council’s next regularly scheduled meeting will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, September 18.
