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Como council member and mayor pro tempore David Fordinal listens to the maintenance report at the Tuesday meeting. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer
Tax rate lowered slightly
The Como city council moved forward Tuesday on street work planned for some of its most worn streets as it approved a $71,250 bid for the rebuild of 2nd and Jeffries Streets among other items at its regular meeting.
The rebuild will focus on 2nd Street from Mills to Jeffries, and Jeffries Street will be complete rebuild from its dead end at the railroad.
According to Mayor Jerry Radney, those two streets have long been at the top of the list to be fixed, and he said a lot of the population are older with fixed incomes. Damage caused to cars from neglected streets might be too costly to them, Radney said.
“Overall, it is a little higher because asphalt went up and concrete went up a little bit,” Radney said. “We’re widening the streets a little bit, and we’re adding in five culverts.”
Contractor Texana Land and Asphalt, which handles much of Sulphur Springs’ road work, reported the job could be completed in four days (“which blew my mind,” Radney said), and the work should start by the beginning of November at the latest.
While the rebuilds are little more expensive than planned, the city saved money on the work done to clear the waterways and ditches around those same streets. A bid came in at $18,000, and Radney said contractor Anchor Contracting finished the work for $11,600.
“We saved about $6,500 which is really good,” Radney said. “It helps us to be able to do some other things on our road projects like replacing some culverts and changing the width of one of the roads.”
The council also adopted a lower tax rate for the upcoming year, setting it at .387677 per $100 valuation. It was .39662 per $100 last year, and even with the decrease, the city will see slightly more revenue due to higher property values.
“We’re lowering the tax rate so it’s not a hit to people, or a double-whammy, so to speak,” Radney said, adding after the approval that a lower rate is “what people like to hear.”
The council also appointed city secretary Mary Doss, Radney, council member David Fordinal and maintenance director Craig Vaughn to the selection review committee for respondents to bids relating to American Rescue Plan funds.