Following the second of two public hearings on the proposed 2016-17 budget on Sept. 8, Village of Salado aldermen will meet in executive session to evaluate Village Administrator Kim Foutz. The meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Municipal Building, 301 N. Stagecoach Road.

View the proposed budget here.

At the Sept. 1 public hearing on the budget and tax rate, only one person spoke.

Linda Reynolds said that the village is not meeting the needs of the people. The village lacks in the services “that people in other community find with paying their taxes.” Comparing Salado to Harker Heights, Temple, Belton and Killeen, she said that all of these communities have services that Salado does not, including nice parks and community centers, as well as better maintained roads.

“Developers should want to come into this town because we provide them with great roads and other accoutrements,” she said, adding that instead Salado is trying to lure developers with tax incentive packages.

She said that a population of 5,000, the tax rate cap increases to $2.50. She encouraged aldermen to increase property taxes. “Really go for it,” she said, adding that aldermen should look at increasing the tax rate to $1.00 per $100 valuation. “Fix the roads and give us some parks and… others things that we deserve in a town of this quality. Just go for it.”

Salado aldermen will formally adopt the budget and set the tax rate on Sept. 15.

The proposed tax rate is $0.5419 per $100 valuation. This is an increase of more than  20 cents over the 2015-16 tax rate of $0.3395. The maintenance and operations tax rate remains the same at $0.1999. The debt service tax of $0.3420 will retire debt of $576,080.

The general operating budget of $1 million will fund 11 employees, including five in the police department, village administrator, village secretary, administrative assistant, a human resources/project adminstration/code enforcement official and  two maintenance workers.

The budget expends $28,250  for street maintenance, $8,977 for parks, $84,631 for maintenance, $38,915 for services, $90,000 for professional fees, $40,385 to the fire department, $89,216 for general government, $49,675 for code enforcement/building development, $168,551 for administrative wages, $319,425 for police department, $50,000 for Main Street capital outlay. Total expenses are $974,200.

Revenues include $367,000 in sales tax revenues and $350,200 in property taxes. Franchise fees include $116,600 electrical, $30,500 telephone, $16,500 garbage, $9,500 cable and $20,000 water.