The city of Orange had 41 houses with flood damage during Imelda. The houses were north of Interstate 10 with most of them in the Hillbrook subdivision off Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and the Bancroft area. The others were on White Oak Road and Guy Lane.
Interim City Manager Kelvin Knauf gave the figures during a city council meeting Tuesday. The city also had a lot of flooded streets, he added.
During the citizen comments, Edward Hawthorne asked the city to help people in Hillbrook. They have now flooded twice in two years, after Harvey and Imelda.
Hawthorne said he lived in Hillbrook for 15 years and moved to Country Club Estates a month before Harvey. He said it hurts to watch his friends and neighbors in Hillbrook suffering again.
During regular business the council gave final approval to the 2020 budget, which will start October 1.
The budget has $22.9 million in the city’s general fund, which is used for basic operations like fire and police services. In addition, the budget has $1.1 million in the debt services fund and $8 million for capital projects from the bonds the city sold earlier this year.
The Water and Sewer Department operate in a separate fund, known as an “enterprise fund” because money comes from fees paid by customers and not property tax dollars.
The Water and Sewer budget had $8.2 million for the basic budget. The budget also has $4.4 million for the special revenue fund, $428,863 for the bond fund, and $25,900 for capital projects.
The tax rate will be 80.7 cents per $100 valuation, up two-tenths of a cent from 80.5 cents per $100 valuation.
Mayor Pro Tem Pat Pullen presided at the meeting because Mayor Larry Spears Jr. was absent after the death of his father on Monday.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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