Brownwood City Manager Emily Crawford recently visited with KOXE regarding a variety of topics from the 2022-23 budget, to water rates, to the Multipurpose Events Center. The following are some of the highlights of her discussion with Randy Turner:

2022-23 FISCAL YEAR BUDGET

The proposed 2022-23 budget will be finished in early August and will be available on the City of Brownwood website.

“We’re looking at about $39 million for the coming fiscal year budget,” Crawford said. “That is an increase of about 7-8%, which is a big number. Normally the budget goes up about 2-3%. Inflation last year was about 8% and right now we’re hovering over about 9% this year. Honestly our goal this year was to keep the city budget growth at or below inflation, which is really our goal every year.”

Crawford continued, “What we’re seeing is because the cost of all these goods and services that we have to provide to the customers has gone up that much, honestly that’s just the costs we’re having to incur. However, I do want to acknowledge that we are going to provide some amenities that the public has been interested in and wanting, specifically some of the park improvements, we were able to keep those in the budget which was very important to the city council.”

There will be an increase in the cost fuel in the budget, but that will be covered in part by American Recover Plan Act funds.

“By using ARPA funds, we didn’t have to account for all of that in the budget,” said Crawford, who added half the $4,572,890 has been received by the city with the other half expected in the fall.

The ARPA funds will also be used toward the improvements that will be found in city parks.

“I do want to acknowledge that we are going to provide some amenities that the public have been interested in and wanting, specifically some of the park improvements, we were able to keep those in the budget which was very important to the city council,” Crawford said. “Our concern is if we stop continuing to make progress it will be harder to get back to it.”

Crawford continued, “We’ve had a group requesting pickleball courts because that’s a big new sport across the nation and in Brownwood, so we’re looking at renovating some existing tennis courts to become pickleball courts. We’re also looking at replacing the walking trail at Coggin Park which is in really poor condition. We’ve also talked about having another splash pad at Cecil Holman park to continue to provide that amenity to every neighborhood that’s within in walking or bike riding distance.”

Crawford also addressed sales tax revenue from this fiscal year as well as expectations for the next.

“Sales tax this year we have had about a 9% revenue over budget, so retail sales continue to go well,” said Crawford, who added a similar amount would likely be budgeted for the coming year. “We were unsure if we could count on that this year with inflation.”

Regarding the tax rate, Crawford said the City’s will be lowered by 6%, marking the fourth year in a row for a decrease.

The 2022-23 fiscal year budget goes into effect Oct. 1.

WATER PRICE INCREASE

The Brown County Water Improvement District recently announced a 19.9% increase in water rates for the coming fiscal year. Crawford explained how that will effect Brownwood residents.

“The cost of treated water to the City, who purchases water from the Brown County Water Improvement District, went up about 20 percent, so that will result in about a 14 percent increase to our customers,” Crawford said. “I know that sounds like a lot and it is, it’s a double-digit increase. When we look at the average water use per household, that’s about 10 units, so what that will look like on your water bill is an additional $3.50 a month. If you like to water your yard every day and wash your car every week, you’re going to see a little bit more than that.”

MULTIPURPOSE EVENTS CENTER

Construction at the Multipurpose Events Center continues with completion anticipated in the fall of 2023.

“Things are going quite well at the event center construction site. We’ve had a lot of dirt work ongoing at the outside stage area as well as the what we’re calling Reunion Lawn, which is the one block between the event center and the fire station that will be the general concert viewing area as well as general festival grounds,” Crawford said. “We’re moving those utilities out to the street side instead of in the center of the block as it was for the RV park.”

SWIMMING POOLS

Crawford said the Camp Bowie Aquatic Center would remain open “as long as possible” this summer, but did not give an exact date.

“Most of our lifeguards are high school and college students and highly involved with school activities and having to go back early, which cuts down on having available lifeguards,” Crawford said.

Improvements on the Wiggins Park Pool are nearing completion and despite the late summer date, Crawford does anticipate the facility opening soon.

“We will open it at some point whether it’s for water aerobics, evenings or weekends,” Crawford said. “That construction project got started fairly late but we want to open it before it gets too cool.”