Property tax rate chart

FY 2017 Valuation	FY 2017 City Property Tax	FY 2018 City Property Tax *	FY 2017 Total Tax Bill	FY 2018 Total Tax Bill **
$150,000	$862.20	$916.73	$4,228.50	$4,713.91
$250.000	$1,437	$1,527.88	$7.047.50	$7,856.52
$350,000	$2,011.80	$2,139.03	$9,866.50	$10,999.33
$450,000	$2,586.60	$2,750.18	$12,685.50	$14,141.74
$550,000	$3,164	$3,361.33	$15,504.50	$17,284.34

* Assuming Appraisal District’s 12.8 percent increase in property valuations for FY 2018 and approval of the proposed new city tax rate of $.5418

** Assuming all other tax rates remain unchanged for FY 2018

Time on for some time off

I know this pronouncement will cause a number of people to breathe a huge sigh of relief, but I’m taking the bold step of embarking on a brief vacation. By this time tomorrow evening, I hope to be relaxing on the balcony of My Hero’s beach house in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla. Thus, this blog will go into silent mode for a while, but I expect to be back in all my glory in plenty of time for the city council’s first public hearing on the proposed budget, scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 15.

Mayor, Wilson, Mitchell, Fogley support, but Tenorio balks at 6 percent tax rate reduction

My very first assignment as a political reporter came almost exactly 57 years ago when I was part of a reporting team covering the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. In the intervening years I have seen and reported on, arguably, more than my share of municipal budget proposals and I have yet to see one in all that time that I could label as "a perfect budget."

That being said, after spending much of the last week reviewing Kyle City Manager Scott Sellers’s proposed budget for FY2017-18, I could easily label it "the ideal budget for Kyle at this time." And I guess I really shouldn’t be surprised at that. Sellers proposed a budget one year ago was exactly the ideal budget for Kyle at that time. Although I don’t agree with Sellers’s methodology — I have been a strong proponent for budgeting for outcomes for more than a decade now — this city manager seems to have the knack for nailing exactly the right budget for Kyle at any point in time.

Mayor Todd Webster was even more definitive about Sellers’s proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

"In all the budgets I have been associated with," Webster said at the conclusion of this morning’s special council meeting to discuss the manager’s budget proposal, "this is the very first one where I really felt that the budget was accomplishing everything I felt really needed to happen. On the whole, it’s light years above some of the budgets I’ve been looking at in terms of finally getting this community to a place where we’re getting ahead of this growth curve."

This year’s proposal provides funding not only for everything the city needs to manage its explosive growth, but also a lot of what the citizens have been wanting. And it rewards the efforts of groups such as KAYAC, who can look at this budget and realize their voice has been heard by those at the very top of the budget-formulating process as this proposal includes such KAYAC-promoted amenities as a skate park/water park. Not only that, Sellers managed to pull off this accomplishment while still recommending a half-cent reduction in the city’s property tax rate.

Then, at this morning’s special city council meeting during which Sellers officially unveiled his proposed budget, he told council members it’s possible that reduction can even be greater. In fact, he said, because of the 12.8 percent increase in property tax values, the number certified late Thursday evening by the Hays County Appraisal District, the property tax rate could conceivably be reduced by 3.3 cents per $100 valuation and still provide the same revenue. Specifically, Sellers told the council it could reduce the tax rate from its current $.5748 per $100 valuation to $.5418, a 6 percent tax rate cut.

"That would allow us to put forward the same budget that we have," Sellers told the council this morning.

Webster said he was surprised by the appraisal district’s number and called Sellers’s proposed cut "a lot better than I thought we would be able to do. As long as the budget is meeting what our priorities are, I can’t see a reason why we wouldn’t lower it to that number."

Council member David Wilson said the lower number "absolutely meets my expectations. That’s the number I had in my mind a month or so ago."

Council member and mayoral candidate (and so far, the only announced mayoral candidate) Travis Mitchell said "To be able to offer a lower tax rate while simultaneously increasing the services we’re providing is right in line with what I have as the highest ideal of what this council and this staff can deliver to our citizens. It’s a great thing, as I see it."

From Mayor Pro Tem Damon Fogley: "I am happy with the (new) rate also. I’ve always been a supporter of lowering rates since I got here," especially, he cautioned, because of new Emergency Service District’s taxes which, he said, "will kick in" sometime in November and will affect Kyle residents.

Interestingly, however, council member Daphne Tenorio cautioned against the reduction, saying she would "prefer to keep our tax rate steady."

"We have to be honest with what’s coming ahead and that’s what concerns me about lowering the tax rate three cents," she said. "We’re lowering the rate three cents right now but we’re going to add another $20 to your water bill. And that concerns me."

Finance Director Perwez Moheet acknowledged that while this proposed budget calls for no increases in rates or fees for city-provided goods and services, future hikes are inevitable. For example, he said, as he informed the council earlier this year, the Alliance Regional Water Authority will be issuing $60 million of debt between 2019 and 2022 to fund Kyle’s share of a project designed to provide water for Hays County communities.

"In 2019, we may have to adjust the water rate," Moheet said. "But we don’t know yet until I see the final structure of their financing. They had talked about getting state funding, Swift funding, which all have imbedded discounts."

But, down the line, he said, "we’re looking at between $31 and $36 per month (water rate) increase to a residential customer. That’s predicated on (the debt issuance) is going to happen on time, it will be the same amount and what interest rates will be at that time. That’s rough, preliminary numbers."

To help fund the expansion of the wastewater plant, Moheet said, in addition to the contributions from developers, "We’re looking at between a $5.50 and $7 per month increase. But that also depends on when we go into the bond market, what the actual size of the bond will be, what the interest rate will be and the term of the bonds that we decide to issue."

Webster said it is still to be determined whether water fees will "bear the entire burden" of paying off that debt. "You can cover some of that through the tax rate, the General Fund. So it’s not accurate to say a $36 water fee increase is actually going to happen."

Tenorio said, however, her concern was that "we did at one time lower the tax rate and then the very next year we had to up the tax rate. So I would prefer to keep our tax rate steady versus lowering it and then in 2019 having to up it again. We’ve lost our savings. We have no more cushion. I would love to see a three cent decrease in the tax rate but I’m worried that it’s a little premature."

Moheet said the city had not "lost our savings," and, in truth, was above the required fund balance.

Tenorio, however, appeared to do an about face at the end of the meeting, agreeing with the rest of the council to pass a resolution to place on a future council agenda an action item to adopt a tax rate not to exceed the rollback rate (currently estimated at that $.5418 number).

On another subject, Sellers informed the council about major savings the city found in the purchase of heavy equipment, which, he said, "the city is always in need of." Sellers said he set aside $100,000 for the purchase of one piece of heavy equipment that was needed, yet could only be used in limited situations.

"About this time we received an e-mail from military surplus saying ‘We have a discount on a lot of tow vehicles that we are basically giving away to governmental entities for $5,500 each’," Sellers said, "So we went down to the federal surplus yard in San Antonio and we looked through that yard and picked out a vehicle with an engine rebuilt in 2011. It runs extremely well. We drove up here with that and other pieces of equipment. We found a forklift we’ve needed for a long time for $4,500 which would have cost us over $40,000 through regular channels. We also purchased another vehicle we can use as a water vehicle that frees up a dump truck we were using as a water truck as well.

"So we initially had $100,000 budgeted for the truck and trailer," the manager said, "and now we’re going to have a truck, a trailer, a forklift and a water truck for $17,000."

Major concerns of the council members about the budget included:

• Mitchell’s recommendations for two additional, but unfunded, police positions in recognition of a recommendation in the soon-to-be released results of a Police Department audit.
• Council member Shane Arabie’s recommendation for the hiring of two new inspectors to be paid from the various utility funds.
• Council member Becky Selbera’s wishes for the city to do more to help augment charity drives conducted by non-profits. Other than establishing a fund for which various non-profits could apply for funds from, other council members suggested recommending specific charity-driven projects the city could, at least, partially fund through an RFP process.
• Selbera’s and Fogley’s desire to expedite by two years the required engineering services for the Post Road improvements and include that $250,000 into CIP budget for this fiscal year.

Click here to view the city manager’s slide presentation on his proposed budget for FY 2017-18. Click here to view his entire budget proposal.

City manager’s proposed $74. 8 million budget to seek half-cent decrease in property tax rate

City Manager Scott Sellers will inform the City Council Saturday morning he is proposing a $74.8 million budget for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 that includes a half-cent reduction in the property tax rate, a 4.02 percent increase in sanitation fees, but no increase in water rates, wastewater rates, stormwater fees (or any other fees) and the proposed addition of three new positions.

Sellers’s proposal will call for a tax rate of $.5698 per $100 property valuation. Of course, his proposed 0.8 percent reduction in the property tax rate will most certainly be more than offset by projected increases in property valuations. Those certified valuations were supposed to be issued by the appraisal district yesterday, but the district informed city officials today it will now release those numbers Friday. Sellers’s proposed budget does, in fact, forecast a 12.45 percent increase in property tax revenue during the next fiscal year even with the proposed rate decrease.

However, this new budget has a far more realistic forecast this year when it comes to sales tax increases — 2.86 percent — a far cry from the double-digit projections of the last few years, projections that haven’t come close to how much has been collected. Through this month, the city’s sales tax collections are $212,624.51 below what was projected in the current budget.

A new franchise agreement with Pedernales Electric will more than double the revenue the city receives over the former agreement — $1.125 million under the new deal compared to $532,000 from the previous one.

The three new positions Sellers will be seeking are for building inspections, engineering services and municipal court.

The City Council begins discussions on Sellers’s proposed budget when it is officially presented at a specially called council meeting scheduled for 8 a.m. Saturday (and, I am assuming, a meeting Spectrum cable customers can watch live in their homes on Channel 10). The council also plans to host public hearings on the budget and proposed tax rates at 7 p.m. on Aug. 15 and Aug 22. It will approve a budget on first reading on Aug. 29 and adopt it on second reading Sept. 5.

"The budget was created first with the needs and desires of the citizens of Kyle," Sellers said in a prepared message he plans on delivering to the council Saturday. "These priorities were ascertained via the annual household survey and at the direction of council. The long-term needs of the city also directed much of the budget creation. The priorities contained in the recently adopted water and wastewater models, as well as the transportation master plan, are made evident in the five-year capital improvements plan.

"Staff has analyzed the effect of current and future growth on the city's infrastructure, especially in light of the city's recent 10 square mile annexation," he continued. "Understanding the extent of this growth and build-out has allowed staff to right-size major arterials and trunk lines, appropriately place and size water and wastewater infrastructure, correctly phase wastewater treatment plant expansions, acquire necessary road right of way, develop plans to address flooding, create the adequate amount of recreational opportunities, and plan for future staffing needs.

"We are in an unprecedented place and time in Kyle's development," the city manager’s budget message concluded. "With over 47,000 anticipated units planned over the next 20 years, it is imperative that the city lay the appropriate foundation for this inevitable growth. This budget is a major step toward this objective."

Sellers listed the following as the highlights of his proposed budget:

• Focus on funding much needed infrastructure improvements (CIP),
• Maintain all current city programs and services
• Property tax rate reduction of $0.0050 per $100/AV from $0.5748 to $0.5698
• No change in utility rates; water, wastewater or storm drainage.
• Funding provided for council initiatives including veterans' memorial ($10,000), community health, 1st year on us (tax rebate), sidewalk repairs ($50,000), dog park ($50,000), recreation pavilion ($250,000), community gardens ($11,730), skate/splash park ($130,000) and beautification projects.
• Wastewater treatment plant expansion
• General Fund contribution for wastewater treatment plant expansion to reduce debt issuance
• Kyle Vista Park infrastructure improvements
• Gateway and wayfinding signage ($250,000)
• Police body/vehicle camera system
• Equipment for public access TV channel
• Elimination of transfer to General Fund from Wastewater Utility
• Three new positions (building inspector, court clerk, & engineer-in-training)

Among the 2018 expenses in Sellers's five-year CIP plan are:

• $500,000 specifically devoted to "street improvement and upgrades"
• $100,000 for the quiet zone zones design/construction at Center and South streets;
• $150,000 for repairs on Windy Hill Road between Indian Paintbrush and Purple Mountain;
• $250,000 for relocating above ground utilities underground, mostly in the downtown area;
• $1 million for Phase 1 of Kyle Vista Park to be located near Science Hall Elementary
• $2,46 million to pay the city’s share of the ARWA (formerly HCPUA) water delivery project
• $300,000 for miscellaneous water line upgrades and improvements
• $500,000 for miscellaneous wastewater line upgrades and improvements
• $1.4 million in engineering costs and $1 million in construction costs for the needed expansion of the city’s wastewater treatment plant
• $12,96 million for additional wastewater projects such as interceptors, lift stations and general upgrades
• $765,000 for repairs on .6 mile of Kyle Crossing, northward from Kohlers.

The opening of a couple of new hotels in Kyle is presumably the reason behind a forecast in the proposed budget of a hefty 45.53 percent increase in Hotel/Motel Occupancy Tax revenues.

The proposed budget also includes an allowance for a 10 percent increase in medical insurance costs.

Mitchell launches mayoral run

Councilmember Travis Mitchell (left) announced tonight he will campaign to succeed Todd Webster (right) as mayor of Kyle. Webster said Mitchell "has my complete support" and called him "the right person for the job"

The Kyle City Council member with the least seniority, District 1's Travis Mitchell, announced this evening he was running for mayor, saying he wants Kyle " to be known as a ‘strong’ city — strong financially, economically, aesthetically, and culturally."

Mitchell’s announcement means that in addition to those seats being vacated by Mayor Todd Webster and council members Becky Selbera and David Wilson, his District 1 seat will also be opened this year, but whether that seat will be filled in the regular November elections or in a special election shortly after apparently is still in question. Mitchell said he officially filed his candidacy with the city secretary earlier today..

Fittingly, Mitchell launched his campaign for mayor of the self-proclaimed Pie Capital of Texas at a gathering of close to 100 supporters (about 10 percent of whom, admittedly, were below the legal voting age) he hosted this evening at the Texas Pie Company.

"I believe Kyle's best days are ahead," he said, just before the kickoff event. "And I want to pursue every avenue available to make that vision a reality."

Prior his announcement, outgoing Mayor Todd Webster said Mitchell "has my full support. He’s the right person for the job."

It is likely that Mitchell will attract at least one opponent and many observers believe the person most likely to challenge Mitchell is District 6 council member Daphne Tenorio. If she did decide to vacate her seat and seek the office it could mean five of the council’s seven council seats would have new occupants next year. Fortunately, moving the elections from May, when they had been held up to now, to November will give these council members at least eight months, not just three, to examine the city’s budgeting process up close and personally before they are asked to make decisions regarding the next budget cycle. Of course, neither Mitchell nor Tenorio can be classified as budget "newbies," but, then, neither has chaired a budget discussion either, let alone one with so many other freshman office holders.

All of which, leaves Mitchell, at least publically, completely undeterred.

‘I am looking forward to campaigning for mayor of Kyle," he said. "I plan to work twice as hard as I did when I ran for council, and I will take as much help and support as I can get along the way. I believe in the future of Kyle and want to be there as we take the next step forward."

Regardless of the length of his tenure on the council, Mitchell has in that short time conceived of and shepherded through a small business development plan he called "The First Year’s On Us,’ that could have the greatest economic impact of any other idea introduced by a council member in the last three years, at least. Mitchell’s plan allows for a rebate of the first year’s property taxes for a business deciding to locate or relocate in Kyle.

It’s also worth noting that Mitchell has a 100 percent attendance record for all council meetings; at the other end of that scale, Tenorio’s 81 percent is the lowest of any of the current council members.

Mitchell’s decision to run while continuing to occupy his council seat would, as would be the case if Tenorio chose the same path, appear to be, at least to this observer, in direct defiance of Section 3.02 of the city’s charter that states "no candidate for or member of the council shall hold any other elective public office." But Mitchell countered that assertion, saying: "I have been advised by the city attorney, and have referenced multiple Texas Attorney General opinions on the matter. They all agree that I am a ‘de jure’ officer, meaning I automatically vacate my position as the District 1 Council member, but I hold over in my capacity until the November election. This action is consistent with every known precedent I could find, including the exact scenario from when Mayor Lucy Johnson vacated her seat on council to run for mayor of Kyle."

Mitchell said there are many reasons he decided to abandon the council seat he has held for only 14 months, as of this date, to seek the mayor’s position, "but the three that rise to the surface have to do with leadership, direction, and vision. Mayor Webster and council members Selbera and Wilson are all stepping down this year. Together they have 34 years of experience leading the City of Kyle. With that kind of knowledge leaving the dais, we need a leader who can hit the ground running and help new council members get their bearing.

"As we all know, Kyle is exploding with growth — both residential and commercial — and there are complicated and important negotiations taking place every day that will impact how our city develops in the coming years. We need a mayor who knows where we stand in these discussions, and how every item is connected to a bigger picture. We need a mayor with the business and political experience necessary to make sure our city negotiates from a place of strength and with the citizens’ best interest at heart.

"As to direction, I'm running for mayor to ensure that we don't take any steps backwards as a city. Kyle has been playing the long-game for several years now. Our city manager, Scott Sellers, is positioning us to finally shed the stigma that we are simply a bedroom community far enough south of Austin to have cheap housing developments within a commutable drive but not close enough to attract job producing commercial developments. Mr. Sellers says he wants Kyle to become a ‘destination city,’ and I agree. But I have started using a word I like more. If Kyle could only be known for one thing, I would want us to be known as a ‘strong’ city — strong financially, economically, aesthetically, and culturally.

"And vision, of course, piggybacks from direction," Mitchell concluded. "Most people see government as, at best, a necessary evil. But I believe I have been called to fight against that notion. I believe Kyle's best days are ahead. And I want to pursue every avenue available to make that vision a reality."

(EDITOR’S NOTE: This blog will publish a more in-depth Q&A with mayoral candidate Mitchell, hopefully along with similar opportunities for every candidate running for a municipal office this year, once those interviews have been completed. I wait until every candidate who chooses to participate in this exercise does so because I pose basically the same questions to all the candidates.)

City manager hints at lower tax rate, significant economic development projects, new parks

City Manager Scott Sellers said today the city should be able to meet all of its expenses during the next fiscal year and still lower the tax rate. In his annual State of the City address at a luncheon hosted by the Kyle Chamber of Commerce, Sellers also talked about plans for "Domain-esque" job-creating developments in Plum Creek and close to the EVO entertainment center.

City Manager Scott Sellers

"Kyle has never been in a better position than it is right now," Sellers said. "We are in a phenomenal community. The work environment is incredible. There was a time during this last year that Kyle dipped so low with its unemployment that we had the lowest unemployment rate in the nation."

He did acknowledge that 80 percent of those workers commute to jobs outside the city limits "and it’s our goal to get better jobs here so that we don’t have to do that."

Speaking about his budget recommendations he will officially present to the city council Saturday morning, Sellers said "We tried to focus this year on those quality of life issues while preserving the same level of service. The great thing is almost across all departments we are reducing our expenditures this year which leads to a lower tax rate being proposed. We are able to do more with the same or less (amount of money)."

He also said his budget will not advocate for any increase in city-mandated fees, outside of a 4 percent increase in sanitation collections fees, but that, he said, is the result of action taken by Texas Disposal Systems, the private contractor who holds the city’s residential sanitation services franchise.

He spent a significant amount of time talking about the city’s growth.

‘If any of you read the Community Impact about two weeks ago you saw a story that said Kyle will reach 100,000 population in 20 years," he told the luncheon audience. "That’s actually realistic. Today we’re probably 42 to 43, maybe 44,000. We anticipate another 1,500 to 2,000 (new residents) just his year alone. So the end is not in sight."

He offered a map depicting projects already in place for development that, by themselves, represented 47,000 units. He also said the city’s recent annexation makes Kyle, geographically, "about the same size as San Marcos. You don’t feel that because San Marcos seems so lengthy when you drive the interstate, but Kyle is more spread out east to west."

At the same time, however, Sellers said Kyle bests San Marcos in new home starts by a ratio of close to three to one. But he also acknowledged San Marcos has had more commercial, particularly retail, growth than Kyle.

He also said Kyle is being branded "as a very up-scale community. Our average income rate is, I think, three times that of San Marcos," although he acknowledged the numbers in San Marcos could be skewered by the significant student population there. But, he said, major retailers look at numbers such as those when they decide where they will locate outlets.

"One of our big focuses is to get retail, large retail, industrial development jobs to the Kyle area," he said.

He noted that earlier in the day the city issued a permit for 225-employee linen service company located in the HPI Industrial Park immediately north of the Home Depot. He also said a parcel of land between EVO and Home Depot was recently acquired by the Endeavor Real Estate Group, the developers of the Domain, a high-density office, retail and residential center in Austin. "They are very skilled at developing and we are working together," Seller said, adding he last met with them on Friday to go over their plans for the development, plans Sellers described as "really good." He said those plans include pad sites for a host of "sit-down" restaurants.

"So I am very excited to see what we have in store there within the next year," the city manager said.

He also said that while Plum Creek has the reputation for being "a very residential dominated neighborhood," there’s a section of the community known as Plum Creek Uptown, at the northwest corner of FM 1626 and Kohlers — "all that area behind the PAC," he said — that’s in store for some major commercial development.

"The Plum Creek Uptown actually went to the legislature this session and were approved for a Municipal Utility District," Sellers said. "That will allow them to borrow for their internal infrastructure. Their plan is to do a walkable mixed-use, multi-use type development. It will be almost Domain-esque but on a very smaller scale. It will be a new town center, if you will."

Back on the subject of the upcoming budget, Sellers said he will be proposing a $15 million Certificate of Obligation bond, a funding mechanism cities use to issue debt without the need for voter approval on a shorter time line than is the case with general obligation bonds like the kind the city used to fund its current road improvement program. The proceeds from these bonds would be used to pay for needed improvements in the city’s wastewater infrastructure.

"The growth in our utility service will actually pay the debt service on that bond," Sellers said. "So we can do the bond without increasing utility rates. That’s a really good deal."

He also said the budget will include items designed to create tourist destinations, including an upscale resort in the Blanco River Ranch development and a convention/tourist center.

He also said the budget will fund council member Travis Mitchell’s "First Year’s On Us," economic incentive program which would allow the first year’s property taxes of any new business to be completely rebated. "That is a big hurdle for a start-up business or a relocating business," the city manager said. "This is a very pro-business program we’re going to start."

He said the budget will contain the money for council member David Wilson’s proposed Veterans’ Memorial and "a million dollars out of the Park Development Fund for a large park on the northeast side" apparently close to the Science Hall Elementary School at Bebee Road and Dacy Lane.

"If you’ve been to Buda and seen their big basketball pavilion, we’ve got one of those in our budget," he said "We looking at locations on the east side of town for a dog park. We will be starting a community garden on land right next to the library (presumably the land the council authorized purchasing following the executive session of its last agenda meeting). There’s also money in there for a potential skate park and a splash park."

Passing a parking ordinance that applies to no one

Last night the city council took the first step — not the final step as last night’s agenda stipulated, but only the first step — toward regulating parking in residential areas of Kyle that will apply absolutely nowhere within the city. That is, unless a specific subdivision, neighborhood, block wanted it to apply. As I see it, the only decision left to be made is whether it will be international rules that don’t apply or local ones.

Confused yet?

Here’s the kicker: Moments before the council was called to order, assistant city manager James Earp distributed an amended version of the ordinance. Section 47.26 (b) of the original version read: "It is unlawful for a person to stop, park or leave standing any vehicle, whether attended or unattended, upon the main-traveled part of a street, in a manner or under any condition which leaves unavailable less than 20 feet of width of the street for the free movement of vehicles, except in emergency situations."

That section raised the ire of those living on comparatively narrow streets in Old Town Kyle as well as the administrators of the Katharine Anne Porter House and adjoining Literary Center that is a the host for presentations from guest authors on a regular basis. Many of those attending these events park in such a manner as to violate Section 47.26 (b).

The amended version added only five words and two figures to that section, but it completely altered its meaning. The addition, which comes at the beginning of the section, read: "For subdivisions platted after January 1, 2017." Take a wild guess as to how many Kyle residents live in a subdivision platted after the first of the year. Not actually developed or built, but merely platted.

Then the amended version added a paragraph [c] to apply to those residential areas that actually do exist, where people really do live. For those areas, that new paragraph contains exactly the same wording except the number 20 in the paragraph that applies to no one is replaced by the number 14 in the paragraph that applies to everyone.

But there’s still another kicker. The new version added a paragraph (d) that reads: "Subdivisions platted prior to January 1, 2017 (all the subdivisions that currently exist in Kyle) may opt in to having the requirements of paragraph (b) enforced by submitting to the City a petition of 51 percent of the affected property owners requesting enforcement." In other words if the majority of residents living in a subdivision, or even on one block of one street in one subdivision so desire, they can petition the city to designate one or both sides of the streets in that subdivision or any part thereof as no-parking zones. Once the petition goes to the city it would have to be approved by an ordinance passed by the city council during a regular agenda meeting in order to go into effect.

There is still one more kicker. Before the council took any action on the dang proposal the decision was made to delete completely paragraphs (b) [c] and (d) of the Section 47.26, thus rendering everything I described above moot, at least for the time being. So now that the entire section of the parking ordinance pertaining to restricted parking on streets by non-commercial vehicles reads: "It is unlawful for a person to leave, stand of park a large motor vehicle (defined as one longer than 22 feet and/or taller than seven feet), travel trailer, personal watercraft or boat, either attached or unattached to a motor vehicle, on a public street in any zoning district in excess of 24 hours."

That version of the ordinance passed 6-1 with council member Daphne Tenorio casting the lone dissenting vote.

That’s not to say some version of paragraphs (b) [c] and (d) won’t be re-inserted between now and when the ordinance returns for a second and final reading presumably in two weeks. The only question is what numbers will appear in those paragraphs. It could be the aforementioned 20 and 14 figures or it could be, as argued by some council members, the numbers specified in the International Fire Code, which the council recently formally adopted. The way I read Section D103 of this code, the minimum width of any street containing a hire hydrant must be 26 feet and one side of any street that is narrower than that must be reserved as a fire lane with parking not permitted on that side of the street.

So that’s generally where things stand at the present. And, yes, last night’s agenda labeled this item as the second reading of this ordinance, but, after consulting with the city attorney, it was agreed that when an ordinance passed on first reading is completely abandoned and replaced by an entirely new version, that new version can’t be passed as the second reading of the original.

If you’re not totally lost now, congratulations!

In other action last night:

• The council voted 6-1 to rename parts of Goforth Road to Philomena Drive and Bunton Creek. Tenorio voted no on historical grounds, but that historical alignment of Goforth was logical only when it was the only road in the area. It makes no sense when it results in the names of so many of Kyle’s streets mysteriously changing for no obvious reason. Mayor Todd Webster and council member David Wilson took turns saluting the Kyle Chamber of Commerce and the city’s Community Development Department for their work in getting the businesses located along the affected roadways to be informed and supportive of the change. The road-name changes will take effect on or about Oct. 17.
• In the evening’s one roll-call vote, the council voted 4-3 (Tenorio, Mayor Pro Tem Damon Fogley and Shane Arabie dissenting) to approve a request to drastically slash the number of parking spaces that would normally be required for a project developed on a parcel zoned for warehouse. The project in question is a storage facility along southbound I-35 and the three dissenters argued that granting the variance was a signal from the council that it approved of storage facilities on the interstate when members have previously voiced reservations about them. This item was also the only one of the items that were considered individually that was not decided by the embarrassingly routine 6-1 vote, with the exception of one to rezone the old speedway land from entertainment to warehouse which was approved 6-0 when Tenorio momentarily left the dais.
• The council voted to postpone consideration of an item on the Consent Agenda to grant a franchise to Pedernales Electric Cooperative because the contract accompanying the agenda item was actually the expiring contract, not the new one, which calls for the city to charge PEC more than twice the franchise fee of the earlier one. That was the only agenda item that was not approved in one form or another.
• Following an executive session, the council approved the city enter into negotiations to purchase 1.2 acres of land located on the north side of the library and land at O Burleson Road, which can't be found on Google Maps but which Mayor Pro Tem Fogley told me after the meeting is the designated address of St. Anthony's Catholic Church.