by Tyler Greene

ABILENE, Texas — Abilene residents could see some changes coming to their water bill starting in October. The last city council meeting saw the council approve the budget for the 2022-2023 year which included a $2 per month increase to the street maintenance fee for many Abilene citizens.

The already approved increase was put in place to help create more funding for future projects to improve the roads throughout the city after years of wear and neglect.

We spoke with several people who believe that the streets are still in bad shape, and don’t want an increase until they see some improvement.

Linda Fenton believes, “I think we’ve paid enough taxes as it is, I don’t think that we should have to pay more taxes for our streets.”

While Ronnie Lioce told us that, “I got 50- 60 dollars a month just in fees, which I think is a little ridiculous. I mean I don’t know what they are doing with the money for the maintenance fees for the streets, but the streets have gotten pretty bad.”

The increased rate will begin on October 1st and will last until next year when the city council meets to discuss the city’s budget for 2024. However, the city is hoping that the additional money raised will help smooth out some of the city streets.