LACY LAKEVIEW, Texas — The Lacy Lakeview City Council held a special meeting Tuesday, Aug. 6 to propose the municipal budget for the 2024-2025 Fiscal year.
At that meeting, a number of residents voiced their concerns about how City funds would be allocated and had questions about some charges on their utility bills.
City Manager Calvin Hodde told 6 News that because of a $9 million bond the City recently approved, change is expected to come for the people living in the city.
"They'll probably see an increase in their taxes and a lot of that to cover the bond and a little bit of increase to cover operating expenses," Hodde said.
Another concern was that City employees were allegedly being paid for time they did not work. Former Lacy-Lakeview Chief of Police Jeron Barrett told 6 News he began investigating this claim in March and less than a month later he was terminated.
"I advised the supervisors to be attentive to their times because I was doing an internal investigation on time," Barrett explained. "There were a number of other things that led to my termination but that was one of the biggest reasons."
Hodde said they are in the final steps of hiring a new chief and an update will be provided to the city by the end of the month.
For people who had concerns about the proposed budget, Hodde claims the city hosted two budget meetings that people did not show up to in large numbers prior to this one.
This current budget will raise more property taxes than last year's budget by an amount of $1,256,979. The total debt obligation for the City of Lacy Lakeview secured by property taxes is $9,500,000.
City council members also made it clear that $1 is expected to be added to people's water bills. That money will go directly to the Lacy Lakeview Volunteer Fire Department Association.
"I'd be glad to sit down and talk with anybody, address their concerns one-on-one," Hodde added. "They're more than welcome to come to the Council meeting and address their concerns there."
The City of Lacy Lakeview will move to approve the proposed budget in their next special city council meeting Aug. 26.
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