Ellinger Voters to Again Decide Whether to Incorporate

Voters in Ellinger will decide in November whether to incorporate as a town.

The town tried incorporating in 2015 and failed overwhelmingly by a vote of 90 against and 26 in favor. The recent efforts to incorporate the down center around Ellinger’s water problem.

Well digger Travis Russell, who was hired by the Ellinger Sewer and Water Corporation, summed up the problem best at a community meeting nearly a year ago: “You’re town is just in the wrong spot.”

Ellinger Sewer and Water has been plagued for years with water quality violations due to arsenic in the local groundwater. The Corporation hired Russell to dig a new, deep well that would hopefully be free of arsenic contamination. They spent $200,000 digging down to 1,400 feet, only to discover that the water was too salty and hot to drink. Compounding the problem, the corporation’s current water well is on its last leg. At the meeting 12 months ago, ESWC President Greg Hunger said the community was “working on borrowed time.”

Ellinger residents have long complained about paying high bills for water that some are afraid to drink. Water bills amounting to $100 or more a month are not uncommon around the community. ESWC has no taxing authority, so it depends on the monthly bills for all of its income. That also limit’s the utility’s ability to borrow money for infrastructure improvements. Organizers Tom Kubena, Joe Lamer and Matt Mikulenka submitted a petition to the Fayette County Commissioners Court calling for an election to incorporate, along with an official plat of the area that would be incorporated. According to state law, an incorporation petition must be signed by at least 10 percent of qualified voters within the area under consideration.

Fayette County Elections Administrator Terri Hefner said there are 189 registered voters within the confines of the proposed city limits. Hefner said about 44 people signed the petition, and she certified that 40 of them were eligible voters – nearly twice the number needed. Fayette County Commissioners approved the petition at a meeting on July 22.

Kubena told the Record last Friday that incorporation would allow the town to collect sales tax, and that sales tax revenue could be used to solve the water crisis. Kubena and the other organizers are calling for a one percent sales tax. Currently, only state and county sales taxes are collected in Ellinger. A one percent city sales tax would increase the tax rate from 6.75 to 7.75 percent. By comparison, total sales tax in La Grange and Columbus is 8.25 percent. Ellinger retailers would still maintain a slight advantage over neighboring retailers.

Even at one percent, the proposed city could see substantial revenue considering the business at Hruska’s Bakery.

The new city would be a Type C Municipality organized under Texas law with an elected mayor and two elected commissioners. Organizers pledge that the mayor and commissioners would not be paid.

In pamphlets being distributed around Ellinger, organizers pledge that the City of Ellinger would not assess property taxes. Nor would it place restrictions on livestock or hire a city inspector, they say.

“As a municipality, the proposed City of Ellinger would be able to request funding for various projects through grants,” the pamphlet states. “Under our current structure, our community is not able to apply for such grants.”

The proposed city limits follow Tobias Street to the north, Bradburry Street to the west, State Highway 71 to the south and Turner Street to the west.