Infrastructure front and center for city leadership

In anticipation of the new year, we here at the Wills Point Chronicle requested that city of Wills Point leaders reflect on the city's accomplishments in 2018, while also looking ahead at goals for 2019 and beyond. 

In planning 2019, the recurring theme for the City of Wills Point is infrastructure! Mayor Turner, City Council and staff will continue with the plan that began four years ago for both current needs and future growth.

The Water Plant will receive a $4.5M upgrade through a low interest Texas Water Development Board loan. No major upgrades have been made to the existing plant since the 1950s. These upgrades will meet requirements of the TCEQ and ensure city water customers continue to receive quality water while meeting the demands of future growth. Additionally, water supply emergency backup supply avenues will be installed in the event anything catastrophic happens to our main feed from Lake Tawakoni.

Streets will continue to be assessed and repaired as the budget will allow. Pothole repair will be conducted by city employees and contractors will be hired for overlays/rehabs. Most work will be completed throughout the summer and into early fall. The City implemented a systematic plan for street renewal each year. Over the last two years, several streets have been reworked at a cost of approximately $375,000. As the cost of materials and labor escalate the dollar/sq.ft. of road tracks accordingly.

The installation of “Radio Read” meters for all active accounts will continue into the 3rd year of a 5-year project. The goal of the city is to make sure all water is metered and billed correctly, as well as saving many manhours each month in meter reading.

In the past couple of years, five substandard houses have been torn down. City staff will continue to assess substandard structures which pose a potential threat to police officers and/or citizens.  Enforcement of the city ordinance requiring all properties with water/sewer taps to have services connected and maintained will continue.

City animal control is constantly being challenged. If you own animals, please read ordinances to make sure you are meeting all requirements. Ordinances can be found on the city’s website at www.willspointtx.org.   

The city is excited to announce that it hopes to roll out an interactive app that can be used for accessing services and receiving alerts. This app is in the early planning stages. However, once rolled out, should be a great asset to employees and citizens alike.

Mayor Turner stated, “I hear all the time where people ask, ‘Where does the money go?’, and my first response is to please attend the City Council meetings where everything is discussed. The financials for the City are transparent and can be accessed by anyone through a FOIA request. I then ask them why they feel this way. The response is almost unanimous in that they feel that they pay a lot of taxes and we should be able to do more.”

Turner further explained, “You have to understand the taxes you are paying and exactly how they are divided up. You overall tax rate is about 2.68%.  Out of the tax money you pay, the City gets less than 1/3 of the 2.68%. The largest part of the 2.68% goes to the ISD (approximately 42%). The County gets about 20%, the ESD gets about 4% and the VZ Special Road Tax gets about 4% (and no, the City doesn’t get any of that money). So, you see, while you may feel you are paying too much tax, the City is getting less than 1/3 of what you pay.

“We stretch each dollar as far as we can and try to accomplish our plans each year. While our income (that less than 1/3 of what you pay in taxes) is constant, the cost of operations and materials continues to rise putting us further behind as time passes. Wills Point, as well as any other small community in the United States is faced with an aged infrastructure. Some of the pipes we have replaced were date stamped 1912. Streets are important but infrastructure is critical. The Council and City staff strive every day to do our best to ensure that a plan is in place and progress is being made. We take pride in doing a quite a lot with very little. I appreciate when people notice this and mention it to the staff and Council.”