by BOB BARTON
Hooray for Kyle’s city council and its administrative staff. They have made difficult decisions, deciding that it’s time to tighten our collective economic belt. They have put together a budget that plays catch-up with the reality of today’s world and quits dipping into the water and sewage fund to support operational habits that developed, partly out of necessity, over the last decade.
It’s true that water and sewer rates are going up. But under this budget, they will pay for that department’s operation. None of these funds will be channeled for new unfunded projects. The tax rate will climb to a little more than 52 cents per $100 valuations. That’s what it’s going to take for a while to get Kyle’s fiscal house in order. The council and staff deserve credit for making those tough decisions.
Kyle has had a dozen steady growth years and managed to survive a tough economy that is still not “well.” Most of the improvements in town have helped as the city grew to 30,000 residents in a very short period of time. Kyle went overboard several times on various projects, but always grabbed the life raft before irreparable harm occurred.
Wisely the council has decided, without dissent, that a new police station is not in order. It’s not needed since the city owns an attractive downtown building, formerly leased by Hays County for its offices. The building is already paid for and is a first class structure. It makes sense from every angle to use the former bank and county office building as the new police station.
The city is looking at constructing and fixing roads, and it is important to build intelligently. Yes, Kyle needs at least three more major roads to link our business communities. The city is doing outreach to residents through the Hays Free Press website, through the newspaper and through the city’s website, looking for opinions on which roads citizens feel should be built. In addition to this input, the city should also look at traffic counts and traffic flow to give the staff a better idea of what roads are needed now, and which can be put off until later.
Tuesday night’s 3-3 council vote on which roads to improve means citizens have their chance to lobby for the roads they want fixed. It also means that city staff can now take the time to look at traffic counts and flow before hurrying through the road improvement process.
We can’t afford to do them all at once, and mixing citizens’ opinions with actual traffic counts to make a decision seems a sure way to guarantee the city gets more bang for the buck. One road at a time is the way to go and the way the council is headed. With the sales tax growth that should follow investment in infrastructure, a federal road building stimulus and higher property tax values, good roads, done one at a time, makes perfect sense.
Kyle’s got “location” to attract additional retail outlets, and that’s the greatest business incentive that every came down the pike.
Congratulations to Kyle City Manager Lanny Lambert and Finance Director Perwez Moheet for this realistic and pragmatic approach. Thumbs up to Mayor Lucy Johnson and every one of the councilmen.
You guys made a tough, but necessary decision.
