Less than four hours before the first public hearings and readings of the proposed Fiscal Year 2026-2027 city budget and tax rate during Thursday’s regular city council meeting, the City of Edna received word from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that it must recalculate its proposed tax rate.
An email from Paxton’s office notified the city that because its FY 2024-2025 audit was not completed within six months of the end of the fiscal year, the city would not be allowed to use the voter-approved tax rate, according to state law. Senate Bill 1851, which became law Sept. 1, 2025, says that cities exceeding that 180-day limit cannot adopt an ad valorem tax rate that exceeds the municipality’s no-new-revenue tax rate.
In other words, a city would be forbidden to use a tax rate that would result in increased revenue for the fiscal year following the late audit filing.
The City of Edna’s audit was completed in mid-June, rather than by the March 30 deadline.
According to City Manager Gary Broz and City Finance Director Valerie Callaway, the city’s FY 2023-2024 audit had taken much longer to complete because of the change from the old system to the new computerized one, which in turn, delayed the start and completion of the FY 2024-2025 audit. Neither audit showed any problems with city finances.
To avoid the problem next year, the city has already set up a preliminary meeting with its auditor later this month to get a head start on the FY 2025-2026 audit.
What Paxton’s email means for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, is that the city will have a bare-bones budget.
Instead of building its budget based on its proposed $0.1662 per $100 voter-approved tax rate, the city must apply the no-new-revenue tax rate of $0.1314 per $100, which will reduce the amount of budgeted money in the city’s Maintenance and Operations (M&O) section of the proposed budget by approximately $125,000, City Manager Gary Broz said Friday morning.
Upon Broz’s recommendation, the council voted Thursday to table the public hearings over the proposed budget and proposed tax rate, and the first readings of each. State law says that cities must hold one public hearing over a proposed tax rate and a proposed budget, with advance notice of one week, and that both measures must have two readings before a final vote.
The public hearings and first readings of the revised tax rate and budget will be held during the 6 p.m. Sept. 17 regular city council meeting at Edna City Hall. A special called meeting for the second readings will be set sometime between Sept. 24 and Sept. 28, depending on which date works best for a majority of the council members.
Across the Crossroads region, other cities which received similar notification include Victoria, Port Lavaca, Palacios, Cuero, Wharton, Yoakum, and Eagle Lake. In addition, the cities of Aransas Pass, Brazoria, Danbury, Flatonia, Fulton, Hempstead, Ingleside on the Bay, Kendleton, Kenedy, Manvel, Mathis, New Home, Nordheim, Odem, Pleak Village, Point Comfort, Round Top, Seabrook, Seadrift, Smiley, Stockdale, Surfside Beach, Taft, Texas City, Three Rivers, Tiki Island, Weston Lakes, Wimberley, Weimar, Woodsboro, and Yorktown were also among the more than 240 cities statewide which were notified.
In other business, council members:
· Approved the minutes of the budget workshop held Aug. 19, 2026, and the regular city council meeting held Aug. 20, 2026;
· Heard from Jackson County Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture Director Carolina Jalufka and Chamber President and LNRA President Bridget Schmidt, who thanked the city for its work in putting together the Flag City Celebration in June and who also asked the city to consider helping the Chamber with funds from the hotel-motel tax when it comes time for various local events;
· Approved Resolution 2026-16 to award a contract for administrative services to Traylor & Associates for administrative services pertaining to the application and implementation, if awarded, of the city’s 2027 Texas Community Development Block Grant Program – Community Development Fund (TxCDBG-CD) grant of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) and authorizing the execution of a contract;
· Approved Resolution 2026-17 to award a contract for administrative services to Traylor & Associates for administrative services pertaining to the application and implementation, if awarded, of the city’s 2028 Texas Community Development Block Grant Program – Community Development Fund (TxCDBG-CD) grant of the Texas Department of Agriculture (TDA) and authorizing the execution of a contract;
· Approved the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce’s request to close Main Street from Wells Street to Allen Street from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 31, 2026, for the annual Halloween on Main event;
· Approved the request of interagency transfer to the Fulton Police Department for one body armor vest and declare the vest as surplus;
· Approved adding section (7k) to the Police Department FLSA Overtime Policy;
· Approved payment of $742,965.45 in current city bills, of which some $600,000 was to pay the contractor and for bond payments; and
· Heard city staff reports.
During the City Staff Reports, Broz said that the C.O. Project is moving along, that concrete on Miracle Drive by the bus barn should start next week, and that crews are continuing to install drainage boxes on Division Street. The paving contractor is planning on being in town the week of Sept. 14 to do Foxglove, Vanderbilt, and Division Streets. The completed repairs at Gayle Street and Meadow Lane look great. The city has a pre-construction meeting scheduled for Tuesday to start the General Land Office Reallocation Grant project, which is to install control boxes at the Mexico and Kleas lift stations. Bids for the Sunset generator are due on Sept. 24. Work continues on the environmental phase of the MIT project because so much of it is in the flood plain. The city is still waiting on the contract for Phase 1 of the Post Oak Branch project. They have all the paperwork for the police station generator submitted to the Texas Department of Emergency Management and are waiting for a kick-off meeting date. Broz also said he is working with city staff on closing out the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, hopefully positive, and that he is continuing to get all the paperwork together for the new budget and tax rate with City Finance Director Valerie Callaway. In addition, Broz thanked city staff for their efforts in painting part of City Hall. The flooring crew is expected at any time to install new flooring at the back of the building. He also is starting to interview candidates for the police chief position. Sgt. Warrren has resigned effective on Sept. 8 and Officer Bailey resigned effective Sept. 15. Also, Planning and Zoning is scheduling a meeting for the property that the county purchased on W. Main Street across from the rice mill.
Callaway said that the city opened 20 new water-sewer accounts, transferred one, and closed 22 in August. Staff closed out the month and got the financials ready. Callaway has been working closely with Broz on the 2026-2027 budget and completed the 2026 tax calculation for Jackson County Tax Assessor-Collector Monica Foster. She has received all the information from the tax office regarding the tax rate, and it will be figured with the new budget. The city received a check for $3,946.33 on Sept. 2 for ad valorem tax revenue for August. The city also received $84,044 from the Texas State Comptroller’s Office in monthly sales tax and paid $6,960.03 in sale tax. Bond payments due by Sept. 15 are $399,968.75, broken down into $743.75 for the USDA loan; $143,000 for series 2024 bonds; $207,350 for series 2021; and $48,875 for series 2022.
City Streets Supervisor Andy Brzozowski said that crews continue shredding, with trimming and mowing following behind the shredding. They have cleaned the south-facing ditch on Pin Oak Street between Guadalupe and Trinity Streets and cut the back slope of that ditch to flatten it out. They resolved the problem with the Dura-Patcher truck and Kenny and Joel have been working on Alba Street. Crews also cut the back slope and front slope of the west-facing ditch on Alba Street to make it safer when mowing. AEP replaced a pole in the utility easement on the south corner of Pin Oak and Guadalupe, and while driving across the drainpipe, it collapsed. Inspection of the pipe revealed that it had rusted away and needs to be repaired after Oct. 1, when the new fiscal year begins.
City Parks Supervisor/Code Enforcement Jaime Liepe reported that the city has 38 open code violation cases, of which six are for dangerous/unsafe buildings, two include fencing violations, six include junk/trash/debris, one includes mobile home skirting, four include abandoned/junk vehicles, and 20 include mowing violations. The city is accepting bids until Sept. 11 for mowing 14 properties. Liepe said they are still waiting for three properties to be demolished by the property owner. Two court cases from Sept. 1 have been given until Sept. 15 to come into compliance or be assessed fines. One will receive a fine due to continuous violations.
Interim Edna Police Chief Mark Matlock said that since the Aug. 20 council meeting, officers conducted 67 traffic stops, issued 16 citations and 67 warnings, and made seven arrests. EPD had 223 calls for service with 37 reportable offenses and one funeral escort. Since the last council meeting, EPD investigated three reportable motor vehicle crashes, including a DWI crash investigation last evening where a driver crashed into a parked vehicle. During the crash investigation it was determined that the operator of the vehicle was intoxicated. The operator was evaluated by EMS and later arrested for DWI.
Matlock also said that he met with representatives from the fire department, EMS, and the sheriff’s office to organize the Edna High School Homecoming escort at 8 a.m. on Sept. 11. The escort will end in front of the Edna Theater for the pep rally. Officer Gonzalez has successfully completed the FTO Program and has been released for regular patrol operations. He will remain on day shift through this cycle. As of this date, three officers have turned in their two-week notices and have accepted positions elsewhere. Officers have been assigned accordingly for shift coverage. One detective will begin working Day Shift on Sept. 11 for coverage. The detective will answer incoming calls and continue to work on current cases that are being investigated.