LORENA (August 30, 2012)-The Lorena City Council met in a special meeting on Tuesday to adopt a final budget and tax rate for the fiscal year which begins on October 1.

The Council adopted a balanced budget which did not require a change to the tax rate.

The only property owners in the city who will receive a tax increase are those whose appraisals are higher than they were last year, the city said.

The budget also calls for no increases in water rates, and includes a slight reduction in the sewer rates.

"The Council felt that in this economy we should work extra hard to prevent burdening our citizens with higher utility rates or tax rate. It also helps that for now we are selling significant amounts of water which is being used in the construction of the I-35 widening project," Mayor Chuck Roper said.

He went on to say, "We also have postponed some capital equipment purchases and begun our budget process zero-based rather than simply tweaking the budget from the prior year. That resulted in numerous line items being reduced."