Kosse Council Approves Budget and Tax Rate; Discusses Plans to Re-Bid Water Tower Repairs

In a brief meeting on Tuesday, September 8, Kosse City Council adopted the 2020-2021 Fiscal Year Budget and Tax Rate, after no questions or concerns were raised in the public hearing. The tax rate, 0.5995 per $100 valuation is a decrease from last year’s rate of .6936.

For old business, Mayor Brooks Valls provided the council and those in attendance with an update on plans for the water tower. He clarified with the council that the previous bid at $97,000 dollars had been for the whole project, with cost for the outside work coming in at the 68-75,000 dollar range, and the inside work (a guesstimate) ranging from 2,500-30,000, depending on condition.

“Per the last meeting, we met with TCEQ and engineer James White. The engineer is working on plans for something TCEQ would be comfortable with, that Charles would be comfortable with as far as what would be required to bring it up full service,” Valls said. “At that point, we will bring it as a turn-key project which would include extra fire hydrants, and all that other business, and should the council decide to, we could bid it out to companies as a package, to bid the whole project.”

Valls went on to say that Public Works Director Charles Dickerson had climbed up and into the water tower to take pictures and assess the damage, and was shocked to find the inside in excellent condition with no rust or popped rivets, but that the coating was gone and would need re-doing. Valls stated that once survey results were back and a list of repairs/requirements had been completed by the engineer, council would be consulted and the bidding process could begin.

In other business, department heads offered their monthly reports. Of note, Police Chief Brett New stated that Kosse PD had issued 86 citations, made 4 felony arrests, and he thanked an anonymous community member for the generous donation of a new bulletproof vest. The Fire Department announced that the burn ban has been lifted, and that a bake sale fundraiser is planned for September 25 in front of Farmers State Bank. City Secretary Christina Lockhart noted that the Kosse Family Medical Clinic will be holding a Flu Shot Clinic at the Community Center at 10:30 a.m.

The next Kosse City Council Meeting is set for Tuesday, October 13 at 7 p.m.

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Groesbeck Journal

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Groesbeck, TX 76642
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