Takeaways from the Lubbock City Council meeting Tuesday
The Lubbock City Council met Tuesday, adjusting the city's budget in response to rising fuel costs, transferring a dozen tracts of land from a federal agency and appointing a long-time council member to the Hope Center committee.
Here are a few key takeaways from the meeting.
Council amends budget to cope with rising fuel costs
The City Council voted to amend the city budget to move more than $2 million of reserve funds into general and enterprise funds to cover the rising costs of gas, diesel and electricity.
The amendment will move $430,000 to electricity accounts, $716,192 to unleaded fuel accounts and $1,002,505 for diesel fuel. Those amounts come from reserve fund balances for the respective funds, which were set aside during the budgeting process in case of cost increases.
"This is where we now see the inflationary pressures that have caught up to the city on some of the most common items that we need," City Manager Jarrett Atkinson said Tuesday. "From the budget we prepared and voted on 11 months ago, natural gas from the market is up 100 percent, diesel is up 72 percent and unleaded fuel is up 57 percent."
City will take ownership of Urban Renewal land
The council authorized the transfer of deeds for 12 tracts of land to the city from the federal Urban Renewal Agency. These tracts are located near Lubbock Preston Smith International Airport, Lubbock City Cemetery and in various parks.
The 12 tracts of land are already currently maintained by the City of Lubbock, so the city will not see any fiscal impact from the transfer.
"You might call this a bit of a cleanup," Atkinson said.
After the transfer of these tracts, the URA will have 64 remaining parcels in Lubbock, which can be sold for redevelopment or transferred to the city in the future.
Joy appointed to Hope Center committee
The City Council appointed Councilwoman Latrelle Joy to the steering committee for a new mental health diversion center, which will be a joint venture between several stakeholders in the community.
The so-called Hope Center will serve individuals dealing with a mental health crisis and will be better equipped to treat mental health-related emergencies than jails or emergency rooms, Atkinson said.
The to-be-constructed center is a joint venture between the City of Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, University Medical Center and Covenant Health — collectively known as the West Texas Mental Health Collaborative. The City of Lubbock and Lubbock County both previously allocated $3.5 million of American Rescue Plan Act funding for the project.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: City adjusts budget for rising fuel costs Lubbock City Council meeting
