Author Topic: Leroy residents to decide fate of city  (Read 657 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Online Elderberry

  • TBR Contributor
  • *****
  • Posts: 24,275
Leroy residents to decide fate of city
« on: October 23, 2018, 04:45:07 am »
WacoTrib By CASSIE L. SMITH 10/20/2018

Voters registered within the incorporated city limits of Leroy will decide its fate this November.

Roughly 44 years after voting to become a city, Leroy’s 345 residents will decide in a special election whether to abolish its corporate existence.

They head to the polls beginning Monday and if they vote to unincorporate, McLennan County would take over maintenance of roads in the tiny community.

About 80 verified Leroy registered voters got the measure on the ballot by way of petition.

Mayor Ernest Moravec calls the upcoming vote a cautionary tale of small towns facings rising costs without revenues. Moravec, who’s served on the council 10 years, has been mayor for three years because “somebody had to be mayor so we could pay bills.”

The city has changed over the years, from a community with ample businesses providing sales tax dollars, to one business employing three people, Moravec said. Many of Leroy’s residents travel to Waco for work each day before returning to the quiet and spacious community at the intersection of F.M. 308/Leroy Parkway and F.M. 2311/Heritage Parkway, 14 miles northeast of downtown Waco, he said.

Many who signed the petition live along the two streets maintained by the state, council member Roy Davis said. Some of those residents are the ones complaining they receive no benefits from the city, even after the city’s recent adoption of a property tax, Davis said.

Davis said he’s lived in Leroy more than 30 years and he was among those complaining the city did not provide enough services to its residents. So when an opening on the city council came up, he ran. Or he signed up, rather. Most council members can’t remember the last time there was a contested city council race in Leroy. The council often operates with vacancies due to lack of community involvement.

Davis quickly encouraged David Dresner to fill the next vacancy that became available.

“Don’t be part of the problem,” Dresner said. “Be a part of the solution.”

To raise money for street maintenance, the city adopted a 24 cents per $100 valuation property tax levy in 2017.

“If we had to go out on the open market for road maintenance, we couldn’t afford it,” Davis said. “Everybody here pays county taxes, so that really helps us ... They get to us as they can but they’ve been really good as we come up with money.”

If Leroy residents vote to abolish the city, the area will then become county property.

As late as this week, Jones said, he was working on an interlocal agreement with the city of Leroy.

If Leroy residents opt to dissolve the city, the roads will be prioritized and budgeted accordingly, along with all the other roads in County Commissioner Precinct 3, Jones said.

More: https://www.wacotrib.com/news/elections/leroy-residents-to-decide-fate-of-city/article_f43afc66-b037-5a09-ae7a-2c6250cf87ab.html