Karnes City leaders had a short gathering August 22 where they outlined plans to finalize the city budget without raising taxes or utility rates.

The plans come at a time where San Antonio-based garbage service provider Waste Management is raising the rates they charge the city for garbage collection. Instead of passing that increase along to the customers, City Administrator Larry Pippen advised the council to absorb it.

Pippen said citizens have had to deal with rate increases several times in previous years, and he told council his desire was to give the tax- and bill-payers a break.

"We won’t guarantee that next year, but at least this year we’ll be able to finalize the budget without any rate increases," he said.

Discussion on budget specifics and a possible official decision on whether or not to increase rates took place during a special meeting Tuesday.

Council members also heard from Pippen regarding a gasoline spill at the city yard. A line from a fuel storage tank sprung a leak there back in early July, spilling about 800 gallons of gasoline and forcing the city into an expensive clean-up task.

A berm contained most of the spill, but studies still need to be done to find out what the impact has been on the soil in the area.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality was contacted and is putting in place a strict timeline and guideline on the clean up process, according to discussion.

Pippen said that as a consequence, the city would no longer be using fuel storage at the yard and instead will be using city credit cards to purchase fuel from local vendors.