New LG City Budget Proposed Including 4% Raises, Another Police Officer

La Grange City Council presented an overview of next year’s proposed City budget at a meeting Monday night, Aug. 9.

The baseline figure in Raborn’s proposed budget came in at $14,569,334. Of that, over $9 million would be allocated to the utility department. About 5.3 million would go to general fund and debt service.

On the utility side, the City’s biggest expense every year is the cost of wholesale electricity from LCRA. The biggest expense in the general fund is the police department.

Raborn proposed a four percent “cost of living” increase for all employee wages next year. He also proposed base rate increases for city utilities, which he said were based on the five percent increase in the consumer price index.

The proposed budget includes funds for an additional police officer, bringing the City’s force to 14 full-time officers. Raborn said there are periods during the week when only one officer is on duty in town. The new position would provide the City with at least two officers on duty at all times.

More than half of the City’s operating revenue comes from utility rates and profits from City’s municipal gas business. Sales taxes provide about 27 percent of the City’s revenue with property tax providing just 10 percent of revenue.

Raborn said the average home value in La Grange this year stands at $188,620. The City offers a 20 percent homestead exemption. Raborn calculated that homeowners with a homestead exemption will pay an average of $315.83 per year in property taxes. That amounts to about $26.32 per month, he said.

“All of the services we provide are cheaper than everyone’s cell phone bill,” he said at the meeting.

Councilman Quenten Gonzalez asked Raborn if he budgeted any funds for audio and video equipment to livestream city council meetings.

“Some of the software (...) it’s great, but I don’t know if we can justify $25,000,” Raborn said.

“And how many people would watch it?” asked Councilwoman Patsy Zbranek.

Raborn said the software that costs $25,000 would allow viewers to watch the City Council meetings while providing simultaneous access to documents referenced in the meetings.

“We’re looking at different options,” Raborn said. “That was one option.”

“It needs to be seamless,” he added. “We set it, we hit it, we go.”

“(Are) there dollars in the budget for that? Yes, there are,” Raborn said.

Some cities utilize free services like YouTube or Facebook to livestream meetings. The City would only need a smartphone or other device to stream the video. The City already posts meeting agendas and supporting documents to the City website. The City could attach links to those documents in the YouTube or Facebook video description.

Later in the meeting, Gonzalez spoke about transparency in City government.

“As much as you can, within reason, especially with the Council, try to be as transparent as possible,” Gonzalez said to Raborn. “With all the news we’re hearing in surrounding communities, the stuff that’s been happening behind doors – the more we’re informed, the more comfortable we’ll be with the decisions being made.”

“If you feel like there are things you don’t know, please, if you see something like that, email me and I’ll tell you exactly what we’re doing,” Raborn said.

“I find that over-communication is good in some instances,” Gonzalez said.

Raborn told the Council Monday night that the budget documents will be posted to the City website. They will be available at http://www.cityoflg.com/departments/city_budget.php.