City of Sweetwater officials react to anonymous million dollar donation

SWEETWATER, Texas — They say ask and you shall receive. Well, the city of Sweetwater approximately received a million dollar donation from an anonymous donor.

“We want to thank them for their extreme generosity in thinking about contributing back to the city and into the community,” he said. “But we're looking at a number of things that we're spending money on in our police department, and fire department primarily. We've also got a donation going to the animal control for a new vehicle. Animal Control truck. And then we've got some money set aside for playground equipment.”

City Manager David Vela says equipment upgrades were needed for Sweetwater’s fire and police departments.

“Like any other city we could always use an infusion of cash into our general fund to purchase the things that are required to make the city run like police cars,” he said. “You know, upgrades to our fire station.”

After losing in a bond proposal last year, Vela says the money is a big boost for the city’s needs. He says there is still monetary needs for other city projects.

“It's going to be the streets. This area of streets. We went out for a bond election last May in 2021 and fell just short of an $8 million bond proposal,” he said. “The voters voted it down. So now we've got to wait three years until he went back to the voters again, seeking those funds for streets. And so we're like any other city we're hurting in the streets area. That's a challenge for us.”