Two council members – Hervol, Tenorio – try in vain to keep city from raising property taxes

Here’s the scorecard: Council members Diane Hervol and Daphne Tenorio fought hard at last night’s City Council meeting to prevent a property tax increase. Mayor Todd Webster, Mayor Pro Tem David Wilson, and council members Becky Selbera, Shane Arabie and Damon Fogley fought just as hard to raise the tax rate and ultimately prevailed.

Perhaps those advocating for no rate increase can take solace in the fact that it could have been worse. The city manager’s proposed budget would have raised the tax rate from $.4870 per $100 valuation effective rate to $.6145. By the time the council completed its spending spree last night, the tax rate stood at $.5848. That means the owner of a median priced home in Kyle will see the city’s share of his property tax increase from $1,076.27 annually to $1,292.41 instead of $1,358.05.

One of the more interesting votes of the evening came when Mayor Todd Webster recommended adding four more police officers and two more police vehicles than the city manager had proposed to the budget. The vote on that idea was 6-1 with Arabie casting the one "nay" vote.

The council also wisely, I think, increased funding to the Kyle Chamber of Commerce by $32,000 but still clings to the belief that the Greater San Marcos Partnership will do the city some huge economic development favor and voted to keep funneling money to that organization. I’m apologize for not sharing their optimism on this subject. I would rather the council use that money to join with the local Chamber and others to fund its own Greater Kyle Economic Development Corporation, but then I’m a "root, root, root for the home team" kind of guy, which, perhaps, is the reason I purchased season tickets to Lehman’s and Hays’s football games. I do not know Kyle Chamber CEO Julie Snyder well, but I have been positively impressed by what I have seen from a distance of her in action. The council did, however, add $25,000 for generic "economic development."

Of course, a lot of pork barrel was added at the last minute last night including a whopping $700,000 to fund a drastically overpriced (according to city staff) one-half mile sidewalk project along Rebel Road between Center Street and Silverado Drive (courtesy of Wilson) and another council member’s contribution to a friend’s slush friend by handing over $30,000.to the library, while, at the same time, gutting programs that provide funds to such much-needed programs as Meals on Wheels and area food banks.

Only Selbera and Wilson sided with the mayor when he tried to strip away the additional protective equipment for fire fighters which had been approved at the council’s budget workshop last month.

The council also voted to set aside $10,000 to pay for a salary increase for City Manager Scott Sellers following his performance review which will take place at the end of the year.

Your tax dollars at work.

In other action last night the council voted unanimously to approve a pair of unenforceable ordinances, one prohibiting a number of vehicles from parking in Kyle neighborhoods and another banning the use of hand-held electronic devices even though many studies, including this one from the National Safety Council, argue that hands-free electronic devices are just as dangerous. But although such ordinances are not effective, they are fashionable and heaven knows Kyle wants to be fashionable. I will still argue that if the council had the courage of its convictions it would have amended the hand-held ordinance to increase the fines of those found disobeying the ordinance in school zones during school hours.