NEDERLAND — Nederland city’s budget and tax rate are close to becoming a done deal with a vote set for 4:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at City Hall.

Recently, councilmembers approved utilizing the rollback rate of .599 per $100 assessed valuation for the upcoming fiscal year, Oct. 1 to Sept. 29, 2020; and the budget is balanced with revenues and expenditure at $11.3 million.

Some expenditures

City Manager Chris Duque said one big expenditure is the 2019-2020 Street Program with a budget of $1 million. An additional $1.5 million will be added to the pot, bringing the total to $2.5 million for next year.

Duque said there would be a big push for hot mix and concrete projects. He said there would likely be a workshop with city councilmembers and the public works director to further discuss the plan.

Another change is working to get the police department fully staffed. The city is sponsoring a number of future police officers that have a mentor officer assigned to them.

“I think this will be good for these cadets and also for the officers that are doing the mentoring,” Duque said. “It’s a win-win and hopefully a long term positive for the city and police department.”

Expenditures will increase by a little over 4% from last year’s budget, mainly for salary and benefit cost increases, which includes a new firefighter position, a 3.5% cost-of-living adjustment increase for all full-time employees, step raises for eligible employees, steps for police officers and firefighters covered by collective bargaining agreements, as well as increasing the monthly allocation to the Senior Citizen Center and $50,000 for a street light project.

In addition to these expenditures, there is also $160,000 allocated for the purchase of two police patrol units, Ford Explorers, and a dump truck for the streets department.

Utility rates

Changes are coming to the city’s utility rates.

“The sewer rate adjustments are necessary to make the anticipated bond payment for the main sewer line project, approximately $680,238,”Duque said.

The water base rate and per-gallon use will remain the same, but the sewer rate will increase 50 cents per 1,000 above the base usage.

There is no proposed fee increase on sold waste.

For more information on the proposed tax rate or budget, go to the city’s website at ci.nederland.tx.us