The Whitesboro City Council approved its proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 with two “no” votes recently. Aldermen Ben and Jessica Edwards both voted against the budget. The budget is based on a tax rate of .572147 per $100 valuation.
Everyone else on the council voted in favor of the budget which will include a 3 percent cost of living increase for city employees.
The budget approval came along with the approval of the tax rate. On Sept. 21, the council will consider authorizing the issuance of certificates of obligation payable from ad valorem taxes and surplus revenues from the water and sewer systems. The issuance is expected to be in the amount of $3,500,000 and will be paid back over 40 years. The debt is to pay for water and sewer system as well as street and other utility improvements and for professional services.
The city does expect to get some reimbursement of cash spent on street and water projects already underway.
At its most recent meeting, the council also heard from Fire Chief Jeff Patterson about the recent fire hydrant testing and evaluation. He said out of 219 hydrants, 35 were found to be out of service. He said the public works team is already working on making repairs to those hydrants.
There are 167 hydrants that are in service now and the color scheme for the repainting that was done is to let fire department officials know just by looking the amount of water that can be accessed from a particular hydrant.
“It’s been many, many years ago that we had the hydrants painted,” Patterson said. Some of them that were marked out of service weren’t painted but will be as they come back online.
He said the inspection is a good tool to let the city know where it stands “with something that we can work on.” The inspection helps the ISO rating which is currently under review.
Patterson also addressed the contract between Whitesboro and Grayson County for fire and ambulance services in the unincorporated areas of the county.
“This contract is unchanged from last year,” Patterson told the council. The total for the year is $519,752. The county pays the yearly amount in monthly installments. The council approved that contract renewal.
He also presented the city’s contract with the City of Collinsville for ambulance services. This contract covers services delivered inside the city’s limits. The contract is for $54,995. The Whitesboro council approved that interlocal agreement and then moved on to a similar contract for the City of Southmayd for ambulance service. That approved contract is for $28,431. The council also approved a $10,000 contract with the city of Sadler for ambulance services.
Patterson also presented a request for the city to approve an interlocal contract between Whitesboro and the City of Denison for the use of Denison’s already in place communications system for Whitesboro’s new 800 MHz radio system. The new system will provide the city with better reliability, interoperability and overall communications ability for the city’s police, fire, EMS and dispatch services.
Whitesboro will pay $5 per radio per month to the City of Denison for the usage. The annual cost, Patterson said, is expected to be $4,500 a year. The council approved the request.
The council also entered into an executive session to consult with an attorney regarding real property, economic development personnel and the appointment, employment, evaluation, reassignment, duties, discipline or dismissal of a public officer or employee.
The agenda indicated that the City Administrator position was being discussed in the executive session.
The council came out of the session and Mayor Jeff Butts announced there would be no public action taken on the matters discussed in the executive session.