SALADO, Texas — The Village of Salado Board of Aldermen met on Thursday, Aug. 22, to discuss the drastic changes in the budget following the discovery of a multi-million dollar deficit.
The proposed new property tax rate will be an increase of $0.486 per $100, according to the Village of Salado fiscal year 2025 proposed budget.
The meeting only had two things on the agenda: hearing general public comments and hearing comments on the new budget.
Mayor Bert Henry told 6 News the tax increase is meant to be short-term while the Village balances their budget.
This comes after the deficit was announced earlier in August, when Henry discovered the Village spent almost a million dollars that belonged to a third party.
Henry says projects are currently on hold around Salado, because the Village doesn't have the money to finish them.
"The budget that we were shown and the expense documents that we were shown, at least for the last 3 1/2 years that I've been on [the board], showed that we were operating from a surplus and not a deficit," said Alderman D. Jasen Graham when one citizen asked about how the deficit wasn't caught sooner.
Salado Police and city auditors are investigating the mismanagement of funds, and 6 News will keep you updated on their findings.
One resident asked the board of Aldermen how long the tax increase was set to last and how it wasn't feasible with property assessments going up too.
Mayor Pro-tem Rodney Bell bragged about how the tax rate has always been lowered since he was on the board, but this year is a different scenario.
Tim Fleischer from the Salado Village Voice agreed as he has covered every budget the Salado government has ever adopted.
"We think there are bright days ahead for the Village of Salado, but we are currently in perhaps the darkest period financially that we have seen and I say that having covered this government from before it was ever founded," Fleischer said.
There will be another public hearing on Aug. 26 for the proposed tax rate. The Board of Aldermen could approve that and the proposed budget that night as well.
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