Edna mayor presents more optimistic budget

    Edna City Council members got a look at a more optimistic budget when they met in regular session on Aug. 7.
    Council was presented a bleak financial outlook for the upcoming year when former city manager Ken Knight gave his proposed budget to council on July 24. Mayor and acting city manager Joe Hermes said he was able to tweak the numbers and come up with a much better picture for the city.
    Hermes said part of the financial turnaround came from a large tax payment from Best Western Lone Star Inn who had come out of bankruptcy protection and paid back taxes of more than $100,000.
    As a result of that payment, Hermes said the city’s tax rate will drop dramatically.
    Last year the effective tax rate was 20.8 cents per hundred valuation. This year Hermes predicts an effective tax rate of .0756 per hundred valuation.
    “Citizens this year will enjoy a very low tax rate,” he said. “This will give us a possible surplus of $34,000. Next year it will probably go back to maybe 23 cents.”