City Council to discuss parks, parking lots and tax rates at Sept. 12 meeting

Parks, parking lots and tax rates are among the top items that will be discussed at the Thursday, Sept. 12 Gonzales City Council meeting.

One discussion item on the agenda will have the council discussing the direction it wishes city staff to take regarding a potential skate park to be located in Gonzales. Discussion can include, but will not be limited to, funding, planning and possible locations for a park.

Community members have spoken to the City Council during public comments about the desire to have more attractions and interesting activities that will offer entertainment for local youth and could be beneficial when promoting the city as an attractive place to work, live and play.

A skate park has been among the top items mentioned, along with the reopening of the Lynn Theatre for showing movies. The latter has already begun with twin brothers Doug and Dave Durham spearheading the work to renovate and reopen the Lynn Theatre later this year.

It is unclear at this time where a potential new skate park would be located inside the city limits. The city parks and recreation department, under director Ralph Camarillo, currently oversees Independence Park (including Independence Golf Course and Independence Park Arena), Lions Pavilion, Rotary Pavilion, Rotary Junior Pavilion, Brickyard Pavilion, the Municipal Pool, East Avenue Lions Park/Splash Pad, East Avenue Lions Pavilion and Kerr Creek Park and Disc Golf Course.

Gonzales City Council also will discuss partnering with Gonzales ISD and Gonzales County to improve the parking lots north and south of Apache Field. While Gonzales ISD operates Apache Field, the stadium is actually located on land owned by the city and leased to the school district for 99 years at nearly no cost. The three entities have recently met and discussed jointly sharing the cost for the improvements.

While Gonzales County will provide the labor, personnel and equipment to put down the new parking lot, the city and Gonzales ISD have agreed to split the cost of materials, which based on a price quote is expected to be a total cost of $112,691.76, which would mean the city would be obligated for half that amount, or $56,345.88, which would come from fund balance.

City Council members will also discuss the city’s proposed budget and tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. The proposed budget calls for total revenues of $31,304,754 and expenditures totaling $36,121,645.

The proposed tax rate would increase from $0.2938 per $100 valuation to $0.2966, which is an increase of 00.28 cents per $100 valuation. The total tax rate includes $0.1643 for Maintenance and Operation (M&O) and $0.1323 for Debt Service (Interest & Sinking).

Council will also discuss setting the master rate and fee schedule for city services at Thursday’s meeting.