Tuesday night’s Bryan city council meeting included advancing next year’s budget for final approval.
That was after a failed attempt to lower the property tax rate generated emotional comments from three members of the governing body.
Two weeks ago, a unanimous council decided to decrease the property tax rate by one tenth of one cent. Tuesday night, councilman Brent Hairston failed in his attempt to reduce the rate another four-tenths of one cent. Hairston says the difference is each Bryan resident saving $3.60 instead of 71 cents.
Chief financial officer Joe Hegwood said Hairston’s proposal would have required a spending cut of $317,000 dollars.
City manager Kean Register said that would have prevented adding seven police officers over the next five years or other cuts.
Before the vote, Mike Southerland took offense to a statement from Buppy Simank, which drew a response from mayor Andrew Nelson.
Hairston’s motion failed on a 5-2 vote. Then Hairston was part of a 6-1 vote to approve the first reading of the budget with the original tax rate decrease. Southerland voted no.
Click below for comments from the August 25, 2020 Bryan city council meeting. Speakers were Brent Hairston, Kean Register, Joe Hegwood, Andrew Nelson, Mike Southerland, and Buppy Simank.