The San Marcos city council will hold a series of meetings, workshops and public hearings throughout August to discuss the proposed 2009 municipal budget.
Special budget sessions are scheduled for Thursday, August 7 and August 14 at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Other budget hearings, discussions and votes will take place at regular meetings on Tuesday, August 19 and Tuesday, September 2, with final budget adoption slated for September 16. Those meetings start at 6 p.m.
On August 7, City Manager Rick Menchaca will present his proposed budget to the City Council for discussion and the City Council will vote on the proposed tax rate of $0.5302, the same rate as the current fiscal year.
The schedule of budget sessions includes:
The draft budget will be posted on the City’s web site at www.ci.san-marcos.tx.us.
The City’s budget process began in January with a Community Summit, followed by a City Council Visioning Workshop on March 15. The City Council conducted a workshop on April 19 to draft the budget policy statement outlining major goals and expectations for the 2009 budget.
The policy statement was adopted on May 20 as a guide for City departments as they prepared their budget proposals for the new fiscal year. City Council established goals of economic development, improving the community’s image, enhancing the region’s transportation grid, and improving collaboration between the City of San Marcos and regional entities.
All budget workshops and meetings are open to the public and aired live on Time Warner Channel 10 and Grande Communications Channel 16. Sessions are also video-streamed live on the City’s web site.
San Marcos already has extremely high water/wastewater rates. Also, I believe that department is a profit center for the city and revenue shifted from water/wastewater to the general fund. I’m sick of dreading my utility bill and a 5% increase should be fought. If the city council feels they need more revenue they need to have the guts to raise the tax rate and be ready to defend that decision.