Clarendon aldermen approve budget

The Clarendon City Council approved a $3.1 million budget for fiscal year 2027 during a called meeting Thursday, September 3.

The new budget, which received a unanimous vote of the council, is higher than the current $2.9 million budget, and aldermen propose supporting the budget with an ad valorem tax rate of $0.579323 per $100 valuation. The tax rate will be voted on during the council’s regular session this Thursday, September 10.

The city expects to bring in about $464,200 from property taxes, $545,000 from sales taxes, with other revenues coming from sanitation charges, utilities charges, fines, fees, and other sources.

The new budget includes an expected 12 percent increase in employee health insurance premiums and about 3 percent for employee raises.

In other city business, the council reviewed applications for the position of city administrator. Almost 50 applications were received by the search team at the Panhandle Regional Planning Commission with nine of those screened as top candidates based on experience and other qualifications. 

A PRPC representative said the high number of applicants for Clarendon’s administrator job was “very positive,” and he was especially impressed with the qualifications of the top applicants. 

The council met in closed session for about 30 minutes to discuss the applicants before returning to open session. No action was taken after the closed session, but city officials did say six candidates would be scheduled for interviews to narrow the field further. The city did not release the names of the first-round finalists.