City passes budget

Jacksboro aldermen approved the city’s 2022-23 budget during a special called meeting Monday, Aug. 29.

The city’s tax rate, which increased from $1.125 to $1.126 per $100 of valuation was also approved. The increase will mean an increase
of $33.25 a year on a $100,000 of valuation.

The budget will raise an additional $7,608 in new revenue of which $7,335 will come from new property added to the tax roll in the past year.

Much of the discussion during the meeting was how much of a raise to give city employees. While every alderman agreed they did deserve one for the hard work they have put in over the last year, the amount of an increase varied.

Last year’s increase was 3%. Jacksboro City Manager Mike Smith had put a 10% increase in the budget and said the city could withstand it. Aldermen’s ideas ranged anywhere from 6-10%.

Place 1 Alderman Libby Gonzales offered a 6% raise, admitting she was very conservative and cautious not to over commit to something the city couldn’t maintain. Smith said with the housing projects and a business expected to break ground in December, he felt confident the city could maintain the raise.

Smith said the city has maintained status quo with its employees and didn’t want to be behind the curve and make it harder to hire new employees if needed. Smith said dropping the raise from 10% to 8%would be “negligible.”

“If we would drop from 10% to 8% (with the raise), where would you want the money to go?,” Smith asked.

Mayor Craig Fenter reiterated the city had a lot on the horizon and had done “due diligence” on the budget, telling commissioners that the city took care of its employees.

Place 2 Alderman Brandon Sisson said if the budget could take it, city staff absolutely should get the 10% raise.

After further discussion, everyone agreed on the 10% raise, which would amount to approximately $5,200 on average per employee and added $180,000 to the general fund budget.