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2019
Volume 32, Issue 37
www.LHIndependent.com
News@LHIndependent.com
August 15, 2019 | 50 Cents
Proposed City budget adds 17 new jobs
By MIKE EDDLEMAN Managing Editor The City of Liberty Hill is growing, and Mayor Rick Hall wants to see the City staff grow with it – proposing 17 new positions in the proposed budget. The proposal also includes $60,000 listed under “Mayor and Council” on the City’s administrative personnel budget. “When Becky (Wilkins) and I started working on the budget with Liz (Rundzieher), we noticed some of the departments were lacking what we thought was adequate staffing for the rapid growth our city is seeing,” Hall said. “We really tried to nail things down, and of course we couldn’t give everyone everything they wanted, but we picked up a lot we felt should have come over in the last few years, so we’re trying to get as much as possible this year and still be able to take the
See CITY BUDGET, Page A5
Former City Administrator Greg Boatright was forced out Monday when the Council, following a 90-minute executive session, voted to accept his resignation. (LHI File Photo)
Council parts ways with Boatright
ANDREA BROWN PHOTO
Liberty Hill returns to school
Becky and Andy O’Dell walked their daughter, Camy, into Liberty Hill Intermediate School Wednesday. Camy is in the 5th Grade, and is one of 4,799 students who attended school on the first day Wednesday.
By MIKE EDDLEMAN Managing Editor When Liberty Hill City Administrator Greg Boatright emerged from executive session near the end of Monday’s City Council meeting, he sat in the front row of the audience rather than in his spot on the dais. A few moments later, with no explanation or discussion, the
See BOATRIGHT, Page A5
Pounding the pavement
Panther Band braves heat to honor the brave
MIKE EDDLEMAN PHOTO
The Panther Band closes out a nearly four-hour morning practice last week before heading indoors for an afternoon of additional work. The marching band’s halftime show this fall features patriotic music.
Budgets and taxes and hearings, oh my
By MIKE EDDLEMAN Managing Editor August means three things in Texas and those are triple-digit temperatures, back-to-school excitement and the task of creating of local government budgets. Over the next three to four weeks, Williamson County, the City of Liberty Hill, Liberty Hill ISD, and Williamson County ESD #4 will pass a budget and tax rate that could greatly impact area residents. Each of the four will deter©2019 The Liberty Hill Independent
mine a tax rate and set a budget for next year, deciding where to cut expenses, where to add and how to balance it all in the end. Each is required to hold at least one posted public hearing before the final vote to approve the budget to allow for community input. Below is a basic breakdown of the schedule and important numbers and issues facing each of the four taxing entities. A property owner’s tax bill can rise or fall based on two different numbers – the adopted tax rate and or their property value as determined by the Williamson County Appraisal District. Certified property values across Williamson County have risen
$5.6 billion in the last year, which means tax bills will increase for many in the county unless tax rates are lowered. Tax rates are calculated on every $100 in property value, so if a tax rate is $0.10 per $100 valuation and a property is appraised at $125,000, the annual tax bill for that property would be $125. Budgets are broken down into at least two funds, the General fund or Maintenance and Operations (M&O) and the debt fund or Interest and Sinking (I&S). The two amounts together make up the final tax rate. City of Liberty Hill The current tax rate for the
See BUDGETS, Page A4
By MIKE EDDLEMAN Managing Editor The sun is high and the reflection off the pavement is blinding. The metronome seems to count beats slowly, marking time and making practice seem a little bit longer like a slow ticking clock. The Panther Marching Band has felt the temperature rise to above 90 since practice began at 8 a.m., and as the 100-plus musicians near the end of the morning, this is the time where success is made. “The last hour and a half is probably the toughest because the sun is up overhead, there’s not as much shade and it is just
getting hotter and hotter,” said junior Sarah Saint. “You can say this is where I fix my mistakes and learn what I’m doing or I slack off and don’t pay attention and just go through the motions. It’s a really critical point in the day.” For two weeks the Panther Band is out on the parking lot marching all morning, and in the band hall all afternoon, working to make sure every move is in step and every note is right for this year’s program. “It’s pretty grueling because we’re out here for several hours and there’s a lot of heat,”
See BAND, Page A6
Williamson County sets November bond election
By MIKE EDDLEMAN Managing Editor Following three months of information gathering and number crunching, the Williamson County Commissioners Court finalized the amount and list of projects to be on the ballot for the Nov. 5 bond election. The bond consists of two propositions, the first a $412 million road projects package and the second a proposal to spend $35 million on park improvements. Precinct 2 Commissioner Cynthia Long felt like the final version reflected the efforts of the bond committee when it came to gathering public input. “I was very happy with the level of effort that Matt Powell and Joe Bob Ellison went
to, making their way to each council meeting in Pct. 2 trying to make sure they got input, not just from councils but they had several public meetings so I think the outreach was good in trying to hear from local public officials and the public as well,” Long said. Throughout the selection process, Long has emphasized the need for cities to show a willingness to commit local funds to projects. She saw some of those examples in Liberty Hill. “There were a couple of different projects the City expressed a willingness to participate in,” Long said. “One was the Long Run extension, turning that into a public road as it extends through Stonewall. One of the other projects there was a high
level of interest in participation in was in trails and one of the ones that made it to the list was a trail down Bagdad connecting Liberty Hill to the entrance to the new park.” What voters will see spelled out in the official bond election propositions may be different than the larger list of projects being planned. “We have the projects that will go in the specific proposition language then we have the other project list of ones that when you add all those together make up the total project list,” Long said. “Just for the sake of words every single one of them doesn’t go into the bond language.”
See COUNTY, Page A4