The Levelland City Council have struggled to find common ground when it comes to budget concerns and that issue continued during Monday’s regularly scheduled meeting.
The council started the meeting with the consideration and action on the annual services agreement with the Levelland Chamber of Commerce for the fiscal year of 2022-2023.
City Manager Brandon Anderson explained that every year the council must execute and agreement with the chamber for the services the chamber provides.
Those services in the current agreement include assistance with reviewing applications and administrating the Hotel Occupancy Fund, event marketing and coordination, general services administration and the operation of the Keep Levelland Beautiful Program.
An operational funds summary provided figures that would be budgeted and potentially approved if the council agreed.
For this current year, the chamber had budgeted $165,300 and carried over the same number to be budgeted for the 2022-2023 year.
The three areas being sourced out of the Hotel Tax Funds included the Hotel Occupancy Administration set at $20,000, Hotel Occupancy Chamber Activities set at $6,700 and Event and Marketing Coordination at $70,000.
Additionally, the general administrative services would be set at $18,600 and the Keep Levelland Beautiful amount would be set at $50,000. Both categories would be funded through the City of Levelland’s general fund.
Chamber of Commerce President Mary Siders also attended the council meeting to provide any additional information or answer any questions the council members may have had.
Coming off of a budget and tax rate season that saw the council fail to find common ground, it has forced the no newrevenue tax rate to take effect.
The set budget has put the City and other entities under closer examination by the council as they try to find funds to accommodate necessary needs with a constrained budget.
Council Member Mary Engledow praised the success of the chamber and Siders for the events and overall success they received this past year.
With that success and possible increase in funds generated, Engledow posed the question if KLB could facilitate any portion of the $50,000 the group is using from the general fund.
Siders explained the amount requested of the council was matched from the past three years in which the council deemed appropriate as they approved those numbers.
Anderson also added that the proposed budget had accounted for the set amount to be pulled from the general fund and had been discussed in budget workshop meetings in the prior months.
Council Member Myatt explained that he did not feel like they had discussed this topic while Anderson added they read through the budget on separate occasions line-by-line.
Moving forward, the council struggled to record a proper vote on multiple occasions before settling on approving the annual services agreement with Council Member Breann Buxkemper, Michael Stueart and Myatt in favor. Engledow was the opposed party.
The future of broadband has continued to grow and has been brought up in multiple regular meeting agendas with the possibility of providing the citizens and businesses of Levelland with a higher quality product.
Anderson explained that federal funding for projects such as broadband will be available for entities to apply for and taking certain steps beforehand to position the city in a favorable position would be beneficial.
With that, in a prior council meeting Anderson made the recommendation to the council to consider a broadband study be done.
The study would provide a higher quality scope of the city and provide accurate date of the quality of broadband citizens and businesses are experiencing.
Anderson also added that the census has provided some information and date on the subject, however; the sample and data size they use is not accurate for the area of Levelland due to how they gather their data.
Anderson and LEDC Director Justin Balderas have spent time researching and trying to find grants or federal funds to take care of any amount that could possibly be covered but to no avail.
Unfortunately, through the current service providers there is not enough percentage for them to fund through their company.
Levelland relies on Excel Energy and Lamb County Electric which posed questions from Buxkemper as to why Lamb County was included.
Anderson and Balderas explained that due to certain circumstances the rail park located east of Levelland falls under Lamb County Electric through certain boundaries.
Moving forward, Anderson recommended the study be funded through ARPA funds as it is becoming more of a necessity to get the study done for future funding projects regarding broadband. Members Myatt and Engledow had questions about the funding process as there is supposed funding for broadband opportunities in the future as stated before.
Balderas reassured the council that there is a possibility of being reimbursed for the amount spent now or at least a match offer that would assist in cost.
Either way, the council can expect some form of assistance in costs associated with doing the study quickly. The company handling the study would be Connected Nation Texas who specializes in broadband technical services.
The company estimates it will take 137 hours of work in the city of Levelland as well as the price to be $22,610.
Engledow reiterated how important broadband will become in the future as it has been a hot topic discussed at various speaking events.
Council moved forward with the approval of the budget amendment with unanimous approval.
The final big-ticket item addressed by the council was the consideration and approval of the interlocal agreement with South Plains Association of Governments for application development for the Texas Capital Fund Main Street Revitalization Grant Program.
The agreement would allow SPAG to assist the Levelland MainStreet Association to apply for Texas Capital Fund, Main Street Program Grant Funds for the revitalization and continued improvements of downtown Levelland if awarded.
A minimum 3.5 percent match is required which would be $17,500. The match is allowed to go as high as 15 percent which would equal $75,000.
Anderson explained to council that this agreement is only the starting line for the overall process and would get the ball rolling for future discussion with projects for the Main Street program.
Anderson highlighted the work the Main Street committee and program had achieved up until now as they have continued to focus on building up the downtown area of Levelland.
The council unanimously approved the agreement.
Since the agreements approval, the next steps include a public hearing as well as revisitation of past proposed projects and consensus from the Main Street committee.
The list would then be proposed to the council regarding the proposed scope and focus of the grant application and if general fund match obligations can be met.