SALADO, Texas — The financial fallout in the Village of Salado drew out a crowd at the Board of Aldermen's latest meeting on Aug. 12. Some attendees said they hadn't seen that many people fill the room in years.
Citizens of Salado addressed the Aldermen, thanking them for their transparency and sharing their frustrations on how the now-known deficit has been building for years. Now, they are hoping the Aldermen address the situation appropriately.
"Now is the time," one resident told the Board. "I feel bad that you guys get stuck with it, but I feel thankful that we have a city manager this ethical and honest."
"I have a hard time swallowing a $1.2 million deficit," said another resident. "That isn't my fault, and it's not your fault. It's not anybody's fault. It's the fault of the prior administration and once again we're paying for it."
The Village of Salado is facing a financial crisis due to a mix-up with money in the City's general fund account, Salado Mayor Bert Henry told residents at a meeting on Aug. 6. As of now, the Village of Salado is projected to end the fiscal year at a $1.2-2.2 million deficit.
According to Henry, he and other members of the Board of Aldermen were not aware of the situation until a few weeks before the meeting.
Henry said some projects around the Village will have to be put on hold temporarily as the Village does not have the money to pay for them at this time due to the situation.
Taxpayers are also expected to see a tax increase.
Henry talked to 6 News before Aug. 12's meeting and said the tax rate increase was necessary at this point, but he hopes it wouldn't be for long.
"It's not something that we intend to do long term, hopefully it's going to be very short term," Henry said. "We're going to do everything that we need to try to minimize impact to the citizens, but at the same time, we still have bills to pay and we have services that they want and it's got to be paid for."
The Board of Aldermen voted 3 to 1 to accept the proposed tax rate of 48 cents, a nine cent increase. However, it still needs to be adopted, which is set to happen on Aug. 26 at a public hearing meeting.
Henry said there are additional ways to balance the budget in the works, too.
"We have some developments that are talking about coming in, commercial developments," Henry added. "We've also found that developers have not been charged in the past for certain things, engineering fees, permit fees, they haven't been charged proper permit fees and we're finding those every day."
The Board of Aldermen will have a public hearing meeting for the FY 2025 operating budget on Aug. 22.
The mismanaged money issue is currently being investigated by the Salado Police Department and City auditors. You can read more about how the issue came about here.
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