Local leaders address Abilene, Taylor County state of affairs in 2024: ‘We are proud of the work that we’ve done’

ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – Mayor Weldon Hurt and Taylor County Judge Phil Crowley took a positive approach at Tuesday’s annual State of the City address. Touching on completed and ongoing projects of the City and County, each laid out road maps for the future, and checked in on successes of the past.

City of Abilene’s 2024 State of the City address: Taxes, goals met, continuing needs & more

The 2024 State of the City address took place at the downtown convention center hotel, that building itself a long-time dream of the city, which Judge Crowley said highlighted just how far Abilene has come.

Mayor Hurt was the first to take the podium, speaking on what the city anticipates. Projects such as a new animal shelter and park slated to open late this year, the widely expanded Abilene Zoo master plan, and the opening of Abilene Fire Station No. 9 to serve Far South Abilene.

“We’ll be able to better allocate service to other areas to town and help ensure the department is able to provide lifesaving services and maintain its ISO number one top rating,” Mayor Hurt said about the new fire station.

A major focus of Hurt’s address was the city’s community partnerships, which he said has been beneficial to Abilene’s ability to provide quality services while keeping a better handle on city funding. Hurt gave the partnership of the Abilene Animal Shelter and All Kind Animal Initiative as an example of this synergy in action.

“When they go out and raise 5-and-a-half million dollars, it allows us more money to do other projects,” praise Mayor Hurt.

In a one-on-one with Mayor Hurt after his speech, he told KTAB/KRBC street maintenance has drastically increased in recent years, touting that 26% of city streets have been improved over the last 10 years.

Similar instances can be seen in the Rebuild ABI project aimed at encouraging infill development in established areas of the city. This program incentivizes developers to construct or renovate properties into affordable single-family housing at designated sites. Mayor Hurt said the program saves around $13,000 per project.

Next, Mayor Hurt celebrated a long-time city partnership as an integral part of city identity as Dyess Air Force Base topped the list of local employers. On the topic of employment, Mayor Hurt held up the city’s commitment to competitive compensation for city workers, which he credited towards empowering all departments to attract and retain talented workers. As of 2023, compensation of all city positions was increased to 94% of the 2021 market rates.

This mindset extended to the county as Taylor County Judge Phil Crowley addressed in his presentation on the state of affairs for the county in 2024.

“What we did in this last budget is invested in our employees, and the good news is, it’s worked,” Judge Crowley boasted.

Judge Crowley went on to praise the sheriff’s department and county jail for continuing to provide quality service even through the staffing vacancies of the past years. The Jail is now fully staffed for the first time in 23 years, a feat Crowley attributed to the competitive compensation model, and a goal he said he hopes to achieve in the sheriff’s department.

“We’ve closed a lot of that gap, but more work remains to be done,” said Judge Crowley.

The County is also looking to fill a need in ambulance services. As of 2015, Taylor County has been the sole provider for the 18,000+ county residents following the closure of Merkel EMS.

“Probably within the next five years, I think you’re gonna see a point where Taylor County is gonna have three full time ambulances and one part time ambulance to meet the need,” Judge Crowley added. He hopes to enter a contract to bring the county up to two full time ambulances before the winter season.

As for development, Judge Crowley told the audience he looks forward to the long-awaited renovation of the original Taylor County Courthouse, which is reportedly on track to be completed by this summer. The offices are supposed to be filled with county employees by the fall.

Judge Crowley completed the City/ County portion of the presentation with an optimistic statement underlining the overall positive view of the future he and Mayor Hurt delivered, “We are proud of the work that we’ve done, and we are going to continue that work… Thank you for your time. God bless you and God bless Taylor County, Texas.”

More information on the topics addressed at Tuesday’s presentation can be found on the City of Abilene website.

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