Street improvements and tax freezes were on Karnes City council members’ minds during their regular meeting Jan. 22, thanks to several area residents in attendance.

The meeting hall was close to full with many of the residents in attendance there to support a freeze on their taxes.

Represented by Karnes City resident Bobby Busselman, the group claimed to have a signed petition asking Karnes City council members to freeze the tax rate of residents disabled or over the age of 65.

Busselman said the petition would require Karnes City by law to hold an election on the subject matter and he suggested council avoid the cost involved in the election process by approving the freeze before an election becomes necessary.

Council decided to delay decision on the matter until February to give City Administrator Larry Pippen time to look into the legality of a potential freeze.

Council also heard from several residents that have for the past three months asked the city to repair the 900 block of East Calvert Street. Pippen said he has been working on possible solutions to the street’s unpaved condition, but the possibility of future water repairs in the area have been holding up the city’s decision making.

Pippen said the city engineer has not recommended the water line on East Calvert for repair in the "near future," but the city administrator did indicate that he would at some point like to see the concrete asbestos pipe replaced — meaning the city may have to several years from now tear up any work it does today.

Drainage also is an issue and Pippen said he recommended the street be done right if it is to be paved at all.

"My recommendation is not to pave any street unless you’re going to put down curbs," he said.

Council members also expressed concern over where the repair money would come from.

"We didn’t budget for this. Where are we going to find the money?" council member Raymond Robinson asked.

Later in the meeting, the topic of street repair came up again and Pippen displayed a color-coded map of several Karnes City streets indicating which were in need of repair the most and which were in good shape.

He suggested that council members borrow money right now if they wished to repair and pave several streets in town any time in the near future.

"If you’re going to go into debt, do it. Now is the time," he said, indicating that interest rates currently are at very favorable lows.

Pippen also said some of the streets indicated may fall into disrepair over the next few years, potentially costing the city more money to fix them later as opposed to fixing them now.

Official decision on street repairs was delayed until council’s February meeting.