City officials remain silent on budget cuts

SAN BENITO — City officials plan “modest” water and sewer rate increases to help balance a proposed $9.7 million general fund budget, City Manager Manuel Lara said late Tuesday.
But city commissioners would not disclose the details of a possible $465,646 budget cut that commissioners propose to offset a $409,605 deficit.

The Valley Morning Star has filed a request under the Texas Public Information Act for details of the proposed budget cuts.

Mayor Jack Garcia and City Commissioner Bill Elliott have refused to disclose whether the $465,646 represents money saved by laying off city workers.

Commissioners have regularly met in closed session over the last three weeks to discuss
personnel in a series of workshops aimed at offsetting a deficit in the city’s utility department.

In Tuesday’s workshop, resident Jose Rodriguez asked commissioners to disclose details of the proposed cuts.

“Why are you hiding it?” Rodriguez asked. “It’s already decided because you’re using it to balance the budget.”

But officials said they won’t disclose the information until they approve the budget.

“Until the board approves all these numbers, these numbers are unofficial,” City Attorney Jan Cassidy told Rodriguez.

During the budget workshop, city commissioners asked a consultant to revise proposed water and sewer rate increases that they argued would strain low-income residents.

Consultant Jeff Snowden of Frisco-based Capex Consulting Group had proposed, at city commissioners’ request, different water and sewer rate increases than those he
recommended last week.

The latest proposal would charge higher rates to residential water users, commissioners said.
The city’s finance director Susan Crabtree said that Snowden proposed higher rates to generate more money.

While the latest rate hike proposal would generate $6.7 million, the first proposed rate increase would raise $6.6 million, records show.

“If we choose not to go this route … we’ll have to eliminate some services,” Lara warned commissioners.

“It will leave very little money in the pockets of people on fixed incomes,” Elliott told Lara. “We want to make sure we’re looking out for everyone in the community.”

During the next five years, Tuesday’s proposal would increase the city’s current $55.21 base water and sewer rate by an average of $1.20 for residents who use as much as 5,000 gallons of water a month, a report shows.

Last week’s proposal would increase rates by an average of 53 cents for residents who use as much as 5,000 gallons a month, a report shows.

Since 2004, the city has increased its monthly base water and sewer rate from $42.22 to the current fee of $55.21 to pay for $32 million in water and sewer improvements that included a $17.7 million water plant, a $13 million sewer plant, a $1.6 million water tower and other water and sewer improvements.

Lara blamed the budget shortfall on factors that include water rate increases and reduced water usage during wet summer months.

Minimal rate increases wouldn’t impact water usage, officials said.

The city’s daily water consumption has dropped from 4 million gallons to 3 million gallons in recent years, Lara said.