At the Nov. 10 Taylor City Council meeting, a resident used the citizen’s communication to oppose a proposed pay raise for city leaders without citizen input. The motion was ultimately voted down.
The resident claimed the city had been unable to fix roads, water and sewer lines, take care of the animal shelter, or pay police officers, at a time when it was asking for a substantial increase.
In response, Taylor’s spokesperson Stacey Osborne said the resident was entitled to his opinion, but that the assertions were untrue.
“The city is fixing the roads, water lines and sewer lines,” Osborne said. “We are taking care of the animal shelter, and we can and do pay our police officers.”
Osborne pointed to some highlights of this year’s budget as examples.
In the 2022-23 Fiscal Year Budget that Council approved earlier this year, the budget includes $13.15 million in tax-supported debt specifically for drainage, the animal shelter, and street and park improvements, she said.
She added that the city has restructured the Transportation User Fee Fund and Municipal Drainage Utility System (MDUS) to focus these resources for ongoing street and drainage maintenance instead of debt service.
“We allocated $11.9 million to the Utility Fund for emergency generators for the north pump station and the wastewater treatment plant, Bull Branch interceptor improvements, Highland Drive/ MLK/Main St waterline replacements, and wastewater treatment plant rehabilitation,” Osborne said.
Another $14.7 million was allocated to drainage for a storm water master plan, Donna Channel and Mustang Creek improvements, and other needed improvements to the City’s drainage, she said.
Finally, Osborne said the city increased pay for Fire and Police civil servants by an average of 20% and 10% respectively.
