CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Members of the Corpus Christi City Council worked Tuesday to approve a $1.2 billion budget, the highest in the city's history.
The budget includes:
- $122.3 million in street maintenance and reconstruction equating to over $328 million in three years
- $2 million for a third in-house street rehabilitation paving crew composed of 12 positions and new equipment
- $750 thousand for Safe Route to School program to rehabilitate citywide sidewalk infrastructure near education centers
- $880 thousand for Vision Zero enhancements and internally illuminated LED street name signs
- Funding for 10 new police officer positions; five more than planned and adds 30 instead of 25 new Police Officer positions within Council’s five-year plan
- New police academy fully funded in budget scheduled to begin construction in 2022
- Significant equipment upgrades like in-car mobile data computers, Computer Aided Dispatch system and Record Management System (RMS), additional Police marked vehicles, Crime Scene mapping drone
- Funding for eight new firefighter positions to create additional medic unit placed at Station 17 (Yorktown) bringing total to 13 from 12
- Equipment upgrades to include three ambulance medic units, one fire pumper truck, potable water tanker truck, and Hazmat Material Response Unit
- New Fire Station #3 located at Morgan Avenue fully funded for construction with a budget
- $2.9 million budgeted for numerous one-time capital improvements at ten area parks including two new dog parks and a new splash pad at Cole Park
- Addition of eight swim instructors to expand the summer swim instruction program
- Funding for an additional 230 shade trees throughout City parks
- Funding for the reconstruction of People’s Boardwalk
- Funding for dredging as part of the pier replacement project
- Upgrades to Seawall and Miradors lighting
- Seawall event programming
- Facility improvements to the Art Center and Art Museum and full operational funding for the History & Science Center
- Two additional live release coordinators and one additional veterinarian position
- Four full-time Animal Care kennel techs
- Five additional code enforcement officers bringing total to 28 from 23
- Assessment and initial exterior improvements at La Retama Library
- Addition of two positions for Litter Crew to clean major commercial corridors
- Remove storm water from the water rate and create an equitable fee structure.
- No property tax rate increase
- No Solid Waste rate increases
- No Gas rate increases
- Small Wastewater increase of $1.97 a month for an average residential customer with a 5000-gallon winter quarter average
- Water rates go down for most residential customers with a neutral offset for the new stand-alone Storm Water Fee
“The City’s $1.2 billion dollar budget is a smart budget that had unprecedented public input,” says Mayor Paulette M. Guajardo. “It is a balanced budget that does not raise property taxes, but instead cuts waste and prioritizes our spending to fix our streets, hire more police officers, firefighters and improve our quality of life.”