Yoakum sets preliminary tax rate

The Yoakum City Council approved a proposed tax rate of 20.182 cents per $100 of taxable property for fiscal year 2024-25 at the Aug. 21 budget workshop meeting.

Last year’s rate was 12.023 cents per $100 of taxable property. No election is required unless petitioned by voters.

“This is a little over a 30% increase,” Mayor Carl O’Neill said. “Some of the reasons for these changes stem from the increase of cost of materials as well as the increase in cost of our contractor labor. The cost of living for the employees also played a factor.”

Matching grant fund obligations were also a key component in deciding this proposed tax rate.

“These grants are for the infrastructure including the water lines, sewer lines, and electrical lines,” O’Neill said.

“Those will come through this year. We didn’t have any choice in raising the tax rate when looking at the obligations we have. Even with our tax increase, however, we are still below the tax rates in other towns from both Lavaca and DeWitt County.”

Preliminary utility rate changes were also approved as well as preliminary rate changes for solid waste collection and Transfer Station fees.

“We looked at the amount of revenue we had, and we needed to balance the budget,” O’Neill said.

“We raised the water rates about 10% more. The electrical and the sewer, however, was less than that. We looked at all different areas of revenue so we could balance the budget.”

The hours for the Transfer Station have also changed recently. The hours of operation are back to 8-11:30 a.m. and 1-4:30 p.m. Wednesdays are the same hours in the morning, but are changed in the afternoon 1-4 p.m.