By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove city council took a step back on Tuesday evening and voted to adopt the same tax rate as the current year’s rate, instead of a higher rate first proposed.
The decision came about after a heated citizens’ forum, a public hearing regarding the tax rate and more budget discussions.
The majority of the residents present at the meeting spoke out against fee increases and property tax increases, some citing what they saw as a lack of transparency. A couple of residents even called for a recall of councilmembers and the mayor, and also called for the firing of City Manager Ryan Haverlah, as they did at the Aug. 18 meeting.
The proposed tax rate was 69.9 cents per $100, but the council instead voted to approve the current tax rate of 68.6419 cents per $100 taxable valuation.
The overall property tax rate is made up of maintenance and operations, at 44.7437 cents, which will add an average of $7.56 more per $100,000 assessed bill. The interest and syncing rate, or debt service tax rate that goes to pay for city’s debt, is 23.8982 cents, and will add an average of roughly $6.61 more per $100,000.
Councilmember Vonya Hart proposed keeping the property tax rate as-is, saying the residents needed to have some time of “just breathing for a second.”
“There have been increases for our residents from last year to this year, twice this year,” said Hart. “I voiced it before that I wanted to stay at the current tax rate, with a possibility the highest I would go is 0.69. But after seeing the difference between both tax rates and going into fund balance, I’m comfortable with that amount.”
Due to the changes of the maintenance and operations portion of the tax rate, the council took a brief recess on that agenda item while the City’s budget director, Ariana Beckman, recalculated the lower proposed rate’s impact to the proposed general fund budget revenue.
During budget discussions, councilmember Rita Hogan again brought up a couple of items that she thought should be removed from the budget, one of them the position of Development Services Manager at $119,571, which was to be a new position in the Development Services Department. She also called for holding off on any market adjustments for city staff positions and limiting the COLA for fire and public safety to 3 percent. However, the rest of the council concurred to just remove the proposed Development Services Manager position.
The council adopted the proposed budget, passing 5-2, with Hart and Hogan casting “nay” votes.
However, there is a new general fund deficit of an additional $282,000 not counted in the proposed budget, bringing the total general fund deficit to $1,179,000. The $1.179 million draw on fund balance also includes a planned $600,000 for repairs to city hall. The new general fund deficit will require a budget amendment in the future.
The council also made a couple of adjustments to the fee schedule changes that they were presented with one final time before their vote on Tuesday. All proposed water, sewer, drainage, solid waste, and other infrastructure related fees will be changed as previously discussed.
However, two fees within Code Compliance will still be increased, but not as much as originally proposed by City of Copperas Cove administration.
With the City’s Code Compliance Department, the annual health inspection fee for businesses is going from $100 to $200, instead of $260. The annual inspection fee for nonprofit organizations is going from $50 to $100, instead of $130.
Andy Remedies, owner of Herb & Earnie’s Diner and The Main St. Mercantile, addressed the council in citizens’ forum, specifically addressing those two fee increases – one of them nearly 2-1/2 times the current rate.
“It’s not something that maybe the public is very aware of. But some fees across the commercial board are going up. Most notably, the food health inspection is almost a two-and-a-half times proposed increase,” Remedies told the council. “That is a quite a significant jump. It would be remiss if we don’t acknowledge that the price of everything goes up. That’s just the way it’s always been since the dawn of time. I would just like the city council, when you’re considering the budget, if you could consider some of those items.
“It’s not unreasonable for a business owner to understand that the cost of something goes up. My eggs are $1 more per 60 than they were last week, and I understand that that happens.
“So, as you consider the budget, please, on behalf of some of the smaller guys, even some of the bigger guys, that’s still an increased cost. Maybe scale it back is all I’m asking, so we don’t have to make up such a large gap all at one time.”
Notable changes for residential and commercial utility customers also include changes to water, sewer, drainage, and solid waste fees and rates. Residential water rates for the first 5,000 gallons are increasing from $6.06 to $6.91 per 1,000 gallons, while higher usage tiers are also seeing increases. Commercial water rates are going from $7.42 to $8.46 per 1,000 gallons.
Residential drainage fees are increasing from $10 to $11 per month, and the base sewer rate is increasing from $21.86 to $22.52 per month.
Solid waste collection rates are also increasing. The monthly fee for residential trash collection for single-family homes is going from $27.78 to $30.56.
The fee schedule with all changes can be viewed at https://public.destinyhosted.com/coppedocs/2026/CCSCW/20260625_2354/134….
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