Hawk Cove City Council Meeting 9/15/26
0:00:00 Mayor: We'll call this public hearing to order on Tuesdays, September 15, 2026 at 6 .30 p .m.
0:00:12 Mayor: Roll call. Ms. Bernardi?
0:00:14 Council member: Here.
0:00:16 Speaker: Mr. Cork?
0:00:18 Council member: Here.
0:00:20 Mayor: Ms. Wall?
0:00:21 Speaker: Here.
0:00:22 Mayor: Mr. Butcher?
0:00:23 Council member: Here.
0:00:25 Speaker: And Ms.
0:00:28 Mayor: does go miss one. Logan. Logan?
0:00:32 Council member: Yeah. I'm sorry.
0:00:34 Mayor: I knew I'd drop one. the
0:00:39 Mayor: entire castle's present, we do have a quorum. At this time, because this is a public hearing, we will be entertaining questions or comment regarding the fiscal year 2027 budget. Is there anyone in that gallery?
0:01:10 Speaker: Nobody signed up? Okay. Alright. Yes, ma 'am.
0:01:19 City Attorney: A point of clarification. It's the 2026 -2027 fiscal year.
0:01:26 Mayor: Okay, 27 fiscal year, 2026 -2027 calendar year.
0:01:39 Mayor: For clarification, fiscal year begins October 1 and ends September 30 of every year.
0:01:55 Speaker: I'm going to go
0:01:56 City Attorney: ahead and just pass everything
0:01:57 Mayor: out. Yes, ma 'am, if you would, please. Sure, is that all? Yes, ma 'am. Thank you. Counsel, what you have in front of you are two budgets. One is for the approval rate, tax rate,
0:03:36 Mayor: 1 .142014 per 100, taxable value. the other budget is at the new revenue rate of 0 .794903
0:14:38 Mayor: 645 p .m. on Tuesday September 15 2026 and
0:14:48 Mayor: we will open the regular session at this time it's 645 September 15th, 2026.
0:15:02 Mayor: All members are still present. Ms. Hodges, would you lead us in the implication, please, at this time?
0:15:38 City Attorney: Father, sometimes emotions run high.
0:15:44 City Attorney: Please help us to remember to be respectful of each other, to exhibit good manners, and to represent the city of POCO in the manner we live.
0:16:11 Mayor: rise to join me in the Pledge of Allegiance.
0:16:22 Mayor: I pledge allegiance to
0:16:24 Speaker: the flag of the United
0:16:25 Mayor: States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you.
0:16:40 Mayor: And as I was earlier informed, there are no public comments registered at this time. We have no old business. So
0:16:51 Mayor: now we go to the new business section, item 7A,
0:16:58 Mayor: discuss, consider, and take action to adopt the revised proposed fiscal year 2027 municipal budget presented to reflect an ad hoc tax rate of .794903 dollars for a hundred dollars of tactical evaluation. Who
0:17:21 Mayor: recorded vote? I just have to say that without a budget, and the city has been without a budget for some time, without a budget the city cannot get money. We have to be compliant with the law,
0:17:41 Mayor: the Attorney General's rulings,
0:17:46 Mayor: and with our holders
0:17:50 Mayor: of liens and notes, particularly the USDA, we cannot become eligible without a budget. We can't get our roads fixed. We can't do a lot of things done without a budget.
0:18:06 Mayor: So with that being said, we'll now take, we'll now have to, we will now discuss the council. We'll now discuss this item. Item A, again, is the fiscal year 2027 municipal budget. We'll
0:18:35 Mayor: start with Miss Bernardi.
0:18:43 Council member: I'd like to make regards to this public
0:18:49 Council member: statement out of concern for the most recent actions by the Attorney General's office against the city of October. The AG sent numerous emails to the city secretary since December of 2025 through June 2026, notifying them of their records and a request based on Senate Bill 1851 and in Texas both government code 103 regarding financial reporting and audits on August 3rd 2026 the AG made a decision to penalize our code for not providing the 2025 audit or provide financial statements in accordance with the state.
0:19:28 Council member: The AG states of the municipality may not adopt the Agelon tax that exceeds the municipalities no new revenue tax rate referencing Texas local government code title 4 subtitling a chapter one oh three oh five upon review the AG states that based on the information and representations of sitting made to our office I determined the city of block code do not comply with the requirements under local government code one oh three for fiscal year 2025 therefore the city of block code is subject to penalties specified in local government code one of 3 .05 C. In addition, for the last City Council session 9426, I attempted to present, I attempted to present to the Mayor and Council direct Texas Open Government codes that pertain to the attempt to propose or draft or pass a tax rate that is Texas Open Government Code 102 .09 A, that states that the governing body of the municipality may levy taxes only in accordance with the budget. Mayor Evans stated that we must abide by a tax code. The tax code that aligns with the Texas Local Government Code 102 .009 A kills tax code 26 .05 which states the law requires the tax rates be set after the taxing unit has drafted and adopted a budget. And the vote on the tax rate must be separate from the vote on the budget. Therefore, no tax rate can be passed at this time if an attempt to default back to last year's 2025 tax rate because of this issue. High County Tax Office, five -year tax rate history received on the state's 2025 adopted rate was 0 .644185. The 2024 adopted rate was 0 .774, which contradicts the property tax calculation worksheet of 0 .66327 and 2023 adopted rate of 0 .642038. The accordance with tax code 2604 H1 nothing was standing subsection 8 the anticipated collection rate of the tax unit is calculated under that subsection is lower than the lowest actual collection rate other taxing unit for any of the preceding three years. The anticipated collection rate of the taxing unit for purposes of this section is equal to the lowest actual collection rate of the taxing unit for any preceding three years. Based on the current violation as cited by the attorney general's office in Paxton and violations against state local government taxes mentioned, I make a medicine to adopt in accordance with the attorney general's determinants and penalties. H1, 2604 H1. First, we need a tax rate. Time.
0:22:30 Mayor: First of all, you identified this as a public announcement or public comment. You made a public comment. That's my statement. Public statement. Right. That's fine. I'm talking. You had all the time to talk to one. You had three minutes. I didn't
0:22:51 Council member: know there were time before that.
0:22:53 Mayor: Excuse me. That's number one. Number two.
0:22:59 Mayor: You cannot make that motion. You cannot make a motion at this time. That's what we're discussing. Because you were making a public statement.
0:23:09 Council member: So I was making my statement.
0:23:11 Mayor: You're absolutely right. that is not a motion.
0:23:15 Mayor: I'm talking it's my turn. You had your turn. I'm listening to you. No you're not. Yes sir. You can't listen to me if you're talking. Now members of council is there anyone else that has a comment they would like to make with it with regard to the budget? Just one. Ms. Hodges.
0:23:38 City Attorney: I would like to offer information that the council is not aware of, that I personally spoke with the attorney general's office after the letter came out. I specifically asked for guidance on when the provisions in the attorney general's letter would take effect, whether it is for the 26 -27 fiscal year or is it for the 27 -28 fiscal year? I had quite a nice conversation with the young lady and she ultimately said the Attorney General's office is not offering guidance on that issue at this time. You need to advise your counsel in whatever manner it appears best and in the best interest of the city. My understanding is that because the fiscal year begins in 2026 that the Attorney General's letter then becomes effective with the 2027 -2028 fiscal year, not this year, not the year that we'll be starting on October 1st
0:25:02 Mayor: this year. Thank you.
0:25:06 Mayor: So the Attorney General was ruling in a nutshell says that this year is not valid or is not being affected by that ruling. No sir,
0:25:16 City Attorney: I'm sorry but I do need to correct you. Yes. The Attorney General's office said that the General's office is not offering guidance on whether the terms of the letter that specifically invokes the statute to Newhouseville. They said that they are not offering guidance on that question at this time because the letter says it begins with the year following the letter. It doesn't happen during the year that the letter is dated. So my interpretation of that in good faith is the penalty begins with the tax year 27 -28.
0:26:06 Mayor: Thank you. Thank you.
0:26:12 Council member: Matt speaks and she's finished her guide there. Anything you just say is not documented in here. So it's just upon review and based on the information and representations you made to our office. I have determined that the City of Hawk Cove did not comply with the requirements under local government code 103 for fiscal year 2025. Therefore the City of Hawk Cove is subject to the penalty specified in local government code 103 .005C. That particular penalty was just added, it was effective 9 -1 of 25, so we are well into play after 9 -1 -25, and we get all that was passed out.
0:27:06 Mayor: Let me ask this question, why wasn't there a budget for 25?
0:27:11 Council member: I don't know, why wasn't there a budget for 25? You
0:27:13 Mayor: were on the council, I wasn't.
0:27:16 Council member: Why wasn't there a budget for 25? What was the last budget we had? The
0:27:21 Mayor: last budget we had was the last time I was a mayor. And that was the last budget we had. So since I've not been mayor,
0:27:31 Mayor: the city has not had a budget until I became mayor again.
0:27:34 Council member: And you know what's required for that, right? You know what's required and wanted to have a budget? Pardon me? You know the requirements to have a budget?
0:27:42 Speaker: Yes. Right?
0:27:44 Speaker: Yes, I do. Do you? Yeah, I do. Apparently not.
0:27:48 Public comment speaker: No.
0:27:48 Speaker: I'm not
0:27:49 Speaker: getting into this right now. No. I'm not getting into this right now. Let's not
0:27:54 Speaker: derail the meeting. This is,
0:27:57 Speaker: is there any. Just, just a minute. Everybody, everybody get a chance. Everybody will get a chance.
0:28:17 Mayor: Okay. Everybody will get a chance. Miss Logan, do you have anything you would like to address with this Mr. Butcher, you don't agree with it. Well, can you be specific?
0:28:36 Speaker: I don't
0:28:37 Speaker: think
0:28:37 Speaker: it's legal. Why is it we're not a
0:28:42 Speaker: state that this town can't raise taxes and
0:28:48 Speaker: we can't pay bills.
0:28:50 Council member: Why is that?
0:29:05 Council member: We're not able to
0:29:06 Council member: pay the bills where's the money going but going to these people
0:29:10 Speaker: right here
0:29:27 Council member: I did not ask him anything.
0:29:30 City Attorney: I did not ask him anything. I did not ask him anything.
0:29:32 Council member: That is everything that Jamie has to say.
0:29:35 Speaker: I'm not a teacher. No, no, no, no, no. He
0:29:39 Council member: yelled at me.
0:29:42 Speaker: You don't need to support them.
0:29:45 Speaker: You don't need to support these guys here.
0:29:47 Speaker: I got truth in fact. I don't support them.
0:29:50 Speaker: You want to
0:29:51 Speaker: get rid of all of them. You want to get rid of all of them. you're going to take away
0:29:57 Speaker: stop let me ask you a question are you going to come in here do all those jobs all these jobs
0:30:03 Council member: no but we
0:30:04 Council member: can hire somebody that can and not rip us off
0:30:07 Mayor: how do you know is being ripped off where's your proof where's your evidence that this city is being ripped off
0:30:13 Council member: nobody's giving nothing
0:30:18 Mayor: up How's the bank's going to show
0:30:21 Council member: us where our funds are going?
0:30:25 Speaker: Running the show and doing that.
0:30:28 Speaker: That's not what I'm saying. Not ever take that again. Don't you ever scream at me
0:30:32 Speaker: again. You need to
0:30:33 Speaker: be quiet, sir.
0:30:34 Speaker: I asked you a question, and I screamed at me. I did not scream at you on that street.
0:30:40 Speaker: You like that every time, man. Mr. Mark, please.
0:30:43 Speaker: I'm like a man.
0:30:45 Public comment speaker: You're the one's got that.
0:30:46 Speaker: I don't have an answer.
0:30:48 Speaker: Mr. Mark, would you please sit? First of all,
0:30:55 Mayor: a bank statement doesn't give you that information. A bank statement only tells you what's in the bank.
0:31:02 Speaker: It tells you where the bonds
0:31:03 Speaker: are going. No, it doesn't. Why are they
0:31:05 Speaker: taken out of the bank? Where are they going
0:31:07 Speaker: from there? What tells you where the money is being spent is the profit and loss banks.
0:31:16 Council member: The loss banks are not a profit. The city is a non -profit. It's not make money.
0:31:23 Mayor: It's called a P &L. I know
0:31:25 Council member: it's called, you don't use it for an all profit because we don't make a profit.
0:31:31 Speaker: Yeah,
0:31:37 Mayor: because this is a budget hearing, budget council, there is a,
0:31:50 Mayor: the quorum is broken, I'm sorry. the quorum is broken at this time we are adjourned at 702 p .m. September 15 2026