Hawk Cove, Texas, October 24, 2026. Other cities carry their budgets around all year. We do not. We have searched every record we hold and found no adopted budget, for any year (Finances). The current one is in no danger of adoption either. On October 20, 2026, City Attorney Ronna L. Hodges told the Council: “The council did not and has not adopted the proposed budget” (meeting video). We call this financial freedom.
What a budget would cost us
Texas law hangs a list of chores on a city budget, and nearly every one of them starts the moment the budget is adopted. We have not started.
- The record vote. “A vote to adopt the budget must be a record vote” (Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code §102.007(a)). On September 22, 2026, the motion to adopt the budget found no second: “Item B dies in motion. We have no vote to record” (September 22, 2026, 0:40:51). Nothing to record, so nothing to post.
- The clerk and the website. “On final approval of the budget,” the governing body shall “file the budget with the municipal clerk” and, if the city maintains a website, see that “a copy of the budget, including the cover page, is posted on the website” (§102.008(a)). No final approval, no filing.
- The county clerk. “After the adoption of the budget or a budget amendment, the budget officer shall provide for the filing of a true copy of the approved budget or amendment in the office of the county clerk of the county in which the municipality is located” (§102.009(d)). We save the drive to Greenville.
- Spending. “After final approval of the budget, the governing body may spend municipal funds only in strict compliance with the budget, except in an emergency” (§102.009(b)). We have not reached “after.”
- Amendments. Our own budget folder explains: “A budget, once adopted by ordinance, can only be amended by another ordinance, not by a resolution or motion” (budget folder information sheets, about October 2025, p. 1). There is nothing to amend.
The FY2027 amended proposed budget even comes with a form for all of this, the “Budget Adoption and Filing Record.” It asks for a public hearing date, a budget adoption date, a tax-rate adoption date, the “Record vote / Council action,” and “Approved budget filed and posted” (page 4). All five boxes are empty. Not one of them has been a burden.
One chore does not wait for adoption: “The proposed budget shall be available for inspection by any person” (§102.005(c)). The proposals we hold are on Finances.
Freedom from audits, in progress
We hold no audit for any year, either (Finances). We are told there are two. On May 19, 2026, Mayor Darren Evans told the Council it was “in receipt of the fiscal year 2024 audit and the fiscal year 2025 audit” and that “council cannot distribute the audits” (meeting video).
About July 2026, we posted a notice: “The 2025 audit is now complete and will be available for in office viewing between the hours of 9a-5pm Mon – Wed” (notice, undated). On August 3, 2026, the Attorney General wrote to us: “the City of Hawk Cove did not comply with the requirements under Local Government Code Chapter 103 for fiscal year 2025. Therefore, the City of Hawk Cove is subject to the penalties specified in Local Government Code 103.005(c)” (letter). So the 2025 audit was complete enough to view, Monday through Wednesday, and the State found we did not comply with the audit law for that year. Freedom takes time.
Where freedom meets a limit: the tax rate
The penalty the Attorney General named is a limit on the tax rate: a city in that position “may not adopt an ad valorem tax rate that exceeds the municipality’s no-new-revenue tax rate” (§103.005(c)). We have handled it the way we handle budgets.
- Last year. Order No. 2025-09-___.01, ratified September 30, 2025, recites that “the majority of the City Council of The City of Hawk Cove, Texas did not adopt a fiscal year 2025-2026 property tax rate,” and sets $0.774139 per $100. The order names no meeting and records no vote. City Attorney Ronna L. Hodges later told the Council that “On October 6, 2025, the City Council ratified that order” (October 21, 2025, 0:06:08).
- This year. At the October 6, 2026 special session the Council was told: “Council also did not timely adopt a tax year 2026 ad valorem tax rate,” and “The lower rate is therefore 0.774139” (meeting video).
We were told we may not adopt a rate above the no-new-revenue rate. We adopted no rate at all.
Going forward
We hold no adopted budget for any year. If one turns up, we will file it with the clerk, post it with its record vote, and give up our freedom like everyone else.