The San Marcos City Council met for its biweekly meeting Sept. 1 to vote on a new land development code and discuss the city’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year, as well as numerous resolutions and land ordinances.
The council approved several amendments to the city’s development code, as recommended by the alcohol conditional use permit committee, the housing task force, the historic preservation commission and city staff. These amendments include changes to application processing and requirements, block perimeter standards, right-of-way dimensional standards, building type definitions, neighborhood density district zoning regulations and character district zoning regulations.
The council received a presentation on the proposed budget of $258,741,410 for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2020 and ending Sept. 30, 2021. The council is set to vote on the budget at their Sept. 15 meeting which will be held in-person at city hall and will include a public hearing on the proposed budget.
The council also considered setting the tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year at 59.30 cents on each $100 of taxable property value—an increase of 4.96% from the current rate. This proposal will also receive a public hearing and a vote at the Sept. 15 meeting.
City Manager Bert Lumbreras delivered an update on the city’s response to COVID-19. According to Lumbreras, the two free testing sites established Aug. 24 each conducted over 400 tests in the six days they were active.
The council approved 15 voting and early voting locations for the Nov. 3 election. The full list of polling locations can be found on the Hays County elections website.
The council approved the creation of an Ad Hoc Council committee to review the San Marcos Police Department’s use of force policy. The committee will be comprised of 14 to 15 San Marcos residents nominated by City Council members, who will work closely with Interim Chief of Police Bob Klett to evaluate SMPD’s use of force policies and recommend changes.
The San Marcos City Council meets on the first and third Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. over Zoom; the meeting can be viewed on its website. The agenda can be accessed through the Agenda Center on the City of San Marcos website.