Lampasas seeks status as certified retirement city
Posted On: Tuesday, Oct. 13 2009 05:50 AM
By Jackie Stone
Killeen Daily HeraldLAMPASAS – The city of Lampasas is taking steps to bring more retirees to the community.
At its regular meeting Monday night, the Lampasas City Council unanimously approved submitting an application to the state to have Lampasas registered as a Certified Retirement Community.
According to the Texas Department of Agriculture's Web site, the state initiative aims to draw retirees to rural Texas communities for positive economic impact. Once a city has been approved and certified as a TDA retirement community, the site says the program will create a Web site, market brochures and generally promote the city as a "retirement destination."
Information given to the City Council included more than 20 letters of support from local businesses and community members.
The application is backed and championed by the Lampasas Economic Development Cooperation, led by Mayor Judith Hetherly. The LEDC is providing the $5,000 application fee from its budget.
Later, the council appointed a new annexation committee to consider possible annexations of land around Lampasas. Council members Les Gerhardt, Brad Neely and Evan Stubbs were appointed to the committee.
City Manager Michael Stoldt said in late 2007 the council decided to pinpoint potential areas for involuntary annexation to provide for the future growth of the city.
"The original annexation committee just looked at areas and said we want these areas considered," he said.
That committee pinpointed 17 areas for possible annexation, Stoldt said. Those have been analyzed in a report looking at variables such as the cost of extending water and sewer services, potential street improvements, the numbers of properties on the land and potential property tax income.
"Council now has appointed a new committee that will actually look at the report and make a recommendation on what areas they want to annex," Stoldt said.
In other action, the council:
Voted to increase library fines from a 10-cent late fee on children's books to a 25-cent late fee on children's books. It also increased the cost of a replacement library card from $1 to $3.
Voted to remove a 13.5 percent cap on the city's maximum contribution rate for pension benefits in the city's retirement plan. The current budget is based on the city having a contribution rate of 13.82 percent.