During it’s regular meeting Thursday night, the Temple City Council approved a $175,255 contract with a Gatesville company for construction of lighting and sidewalks as part of a program doling out Community Develop-ment Block Grant funds.
The contract was awarded to TTG Utilities Inc. of Gatesville and will be for Phase 1 of the project, which lies within the boundaries of Adams Avenue to Avenue E. The project will include sidewalks and handicap accessibility improvements, general site lighting plans, retaining walls, pavement striping for pedestrian access and signage.
Patsy Luna, District 2 council member, said after the meeting that she hopes the proposed improvements will help breathe life into the area and help it recover from decades of neglect.
“I’m just glad to see some improvements going in,” she said. “Maybe it will open up that area for commercial development.”
She said she still has hopes for development of a trail system leading from the Whistlestop park area through sections of East Temple to complement the MLK street project.
Late last year the city learned that the Texas Department of Transportation funding for the park extension had not come through due to TxDOT cutbacks of transportation enhancement projects.
“Many people walk and it will be a nice walkway,” she said. “And we have commercial areas there and hopefully it will bring back some life to the area,” she added, referring to the MLK project and hopeful, continued efforts for the park and trails.
The CDBG funding for the MLK project in the amount of $244,158 was approved as part of the CDBG budget adopted in 2006.
After design work is completed about $212,000 of that amount will remain. The balance of the funding will be combined with the $143,488 approved for the project in 2007, according to the city. That funding was approved by the city council in May as part of a $524,136 total. Other CDBG funding, allocated by Housing and Urban Development, will go toward a number of public service agencies as well as city infrastructure improvements, park improvements, demolition projects and administrative needs related to the funding.
During a workshop prior to the meeting the council heard an overview of the proposed 2007-08 budget by City Manager David Blackburn.
“This is a multi-million dollar corporation budget to the tune of over $100 million,” Blackburn said of the overall city’s budget, which, when including the Reinvestment Zone Number One, totals $102.8 million.
Without the zone funding, the budget is proposed at $90.1 million, which includes the transfer of balances from the previous budget and represents a 10.36 percent increase over last year’s adopted budget of $81.7 million, according to figures from the city.
The proposed revenue side of the budget is $87.45 million, which is up 8.37 percent over the 2007 adopted budget of $80.6 million.
General fund revenues are estimated to be $52.3 million. Sales tax accounts for a majority of revenues with $14.99 million, or 28.6 percent, which Blackburn termed “strong and steady growth.”
Ad valorem taxes of $10.1 million accounts for 19.3 percent of revenues.
The proposed tax rate is 57.34 cents per $100 evaluation.
General fund expenditures total $54.9 million, with personnel accounting for $32.6 million, or 59.3 percent of the total.
The operations portion of the fund is estimated at $19.2 million, or 35.1 percent of the total.
Blackburn said the 2008 general balance is estimated at $5.12 million, with $2.59 million proposed for use.
The water and wastewater revenues and expenditures are estimated at $25.5 million, and could include a 3.82 percent increase to residential customers and 2.65 percent increase to commercial rates.
Compared to last year, rates for a residence using 10,000 gallons of water and generating 6,000 gallons of sewage would go from $58.18 to $60.40.
The proposed budget includes a $43.69 million capital improvement program, including a $12 million certificate of obligation funding, $12 million in multi-year utility revenue bond funding, and $14.7 million in general obligation bond funding (for parks and Temple Fire and Rescue projects) and $4.98 million in general operating budget funding.
rstinson@temple-telegram.com
