By Danielle Skinner
HEWITT - Residents in Hewitt, a suburb of Waco, learned Monday night they maybe facing another proposed property tax hike.
Just last summer the city council proposed a bond to pay for equipment for Hewitt fire and police departments, but Hewitt voters turned down the bond at the ballot box.
The city still needs money to repair streets, parks, and improve water waste management. City officials apparently don't need voter approval to issue a $7.7 million bond issuance, that will fund what they are calling a capitol improvement plan.
"We have made this project list based on their input and the list doesn't get any shorter every year," said city manager Adam Miles.
He says with the help of public input, city officials have put together a list of what needs to be improved in the city of Hewitt.
The city has been putting off repairing pot holes in streets, cleaning up parks, and taking care of water and waste management.
In order to fund the project Hewitt will have to use a $7.7 million bond issuance which may mean another property tax increase.
"We need to do these things it's obvious the streets need to be upgraded and prepared but someone's got to pay for it somewhere, and all our money is tax payer money," said Miles.
Miles says only this time it may not affect property owners at all. He says the bond issuance will put the city in debt by $330,000, which would equal a property tax hike of five cents to pay the debt off.
"So it is a process of getting the information from the public. Getting the input and then ultimately it is going to be a city council decision to make."
In the mean time city council members will be working on creating a budget to pay back the debt. On April 16th the bond issuance will be brought up before city council members again in order to make a decision. Until then the city plans on advertising the issuance and holding public hearings to get feedback.
