La Grange and Fayette County both started the new year in positive territory in terms of sales tax revenue. Not all towns and counties in the region were so fortunate.

First Month of Year (January) Fayette County Cities Pct. Change Tax Rate 2025 2024 2023 2022 2024 to ’25 La Grange 1.50% 227,331 219,288 211,898 205,629 Up 3.6% Schulenburg 1.50% 91,219 114,998 104,406 70,471 Down 20.6% Flatonia 1.50% 45,702 41,312 40,503 37,619 Up 10.6% Round Top 1.50% 45,621 31,526 30,365 12,759 Up 44.7% Carmine 1.50% 10,285 12,299 11,134 10,039 Down 16.3% Fayetteville 1.50% 9,480 9,959 10,365 9,524 Down 4.8% Ellinger 1.00% 6,268 5,582 4,2349 6,696 Up 12.2% Other Area Cities Bastrop 1.50% 1,077,869 1,030,693 978,536 931,797 Up 4.5% Brenham 1.50% 794,408 845,829 755,585 741,857 Down 8.0% Lockhart 1.50% 481,122 338,486 306,324 282,455 Up 42.1% Sealy 1.50% 346,901 317,695 241,861 290,805 Up 9.2% Elgin 1.50% 340,689 321,866 315,648 273,153 Up 5.9% Gonzales 1.50% 259,493 271,332 264,442 260,724 Down 4.3% Giddings 1.50% 246,119 225,129 207,378 196,393 Up 9.3% Yoakum 2.00% 192,692 174,264 166,959 172,088 Up 10.5% Luling 1.50% 188,125 178,774 149,665 147,310 Up 5.2% Caldwell 1.50% 171,757 171,032 163,034 160,202 Up 0.4% Columbus 1.50% 145,557 164,335 157,673 148,341 Down 11.4% Hallettsville 2.00% 138,764 132,823 118,105 111,786 Up 4.4% Bellville 1.50% 98,991 89,884 85,822 80,860 Up 10.1% Shiner 2.00% 94,732 99,113 43,272 43,855 Down 4.4% Smithville 1.50% 69,056 70,729 62,860 64,225 Down 2.3% Weimar 1.50% 64,393 67,791 65,556 68,462 Down 5.0% Lexington 1.50% 34,651 34,358 29,524 31,085 Up 0.8% Eagle Lake 1.00% 33,856 34,658 36,632 31,716 Down 2.3% County Governments Bastrop 0.50% 771,210 714,208 658,620 620,781 Up 7.9% Washington 0.50% 354,514 385,468 382,784 329,409 Down 8.0% Caldwell 0.50% 340,580 279,156 260,377 226,925 Up 22.0% Fayette 0.50% 279,640 265,995 258,543 212,575 Up 5.1% Austin 0.50% 236,909 208,890 195,457 196,901 Up 13.4% Gonzales 0.50% 173,903 210,053 196,497 186,664 Down 17.2% Colorado 0.50% 161,315 181,291 159,621 148,159 Down 11.0% Lee 0.50% 160,780 131,968 136,280 120,048 Up 21.8% Burleson 0.50% 123,623 120,504 146,378 122,378 Up 2.5% Source: State Comptroller’s Office.

Sheriff Keith Korenek reports that on the evening of January 13 the Sheriff’s office received a call about shots being fired in the area of Anders Daniels Rd. and Citzler Rd. Deputies responded and met with witnesses who advised of a vehicle believed to be involved.

Don’t eat and drive – that’s the advice a driver in Schulenburg got after getting pulled over by police. According to a call log from the Schulenburg Police Department, Officer Reyden Svatek was patrolling US 77 on the north side of town just before midnight last Wednesday, Jan.

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Because of the expected winter weather next week, the AMEN Food Pantry in La Grange will not distribute food as scheduled next Tuesday, Jan. 21. They were already closed Monday Jan. 20 because of MLK Day. They will reopen for distribution the following Monday, Jan. 27, as normal.

Here are more of The Fayette County Record’s Eat. Shop. Play. contest winners. Participants entered to win in the contest by purchasing items at any of the 10 participating businesses in the Eat. Shop. Play. magazine and brought their receipts into The Record office. For every $20 spent, shoppers received a punch in our special Eat. Shop. Play. Shop Small punch card. Once a customer spent $100, their card was turned into The Fayette County Record office for a chance to win a $25, $15, or $10 gift certificate to each of the participating merchants. The more shoppers spent, the more chances they had to win.

The Fayette County Country Music Club will host their monthly Opry Monday, Jan. 20 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in La Grange. The show starts at 7 p.m. and the doors will open at 5:30 p.m. Admission is $8.

Revenues for the airport included $75,737 from hangar rents, $4,011 from fuel flowage fees, $5,488 from land leases and $1,500 from the hay lease. Fuel sales increased from just under 67,000 gallons sold in 2023 to over 80,000 gallons sold in 2024.

Part II Although he had been hired by the new Evangelical Lutheran Zions Congregation at Waldeck in early 1900, it wasn’t until November 1905 that Carl Baer purchased fifty acres in the rural Walhalla community of Fayette County for $550 in cash. This property in the Vanderwerth League is located along FM 1291 and is still owned by one of the Baers’ great-granddaughters and her husband.