Funds for Constitution Drive reconstruction earmarked in Copperas Cove EDC budget  

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

The Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation’s budget for the fiscal year 2022-2023 was approved by the Copperas Cove city council during their meeting on Aug. 16.  

The EDC will enter fiscal year 2022-2023 with an undesignated fund balance of $7,678,731, and projects a total of $1,567,500 in revenues, with $1,559,000 coming from the 3/8-cent of sales tax it receives, and $8,500 in interest.

The EDC’s total operating expenses are budgeted at $763,277, to include $47,000 for an entrepreneur center.

The EDC has also designated funds for marketing, to include $72,140 for business attraction, $57,240 for MARCOM, and $23,570 for business retention.

The budget also has $2 million earmarked for the reconstruction of Constitution Drive from the intersection of Business 190 to the intersection of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The council and EDC approved the designation of the funds for that project, with that street being a much-traveled road on the east end and also one of the main streets that visitors encounter in Copperas Cove.

“We will provide reimbursement to the City as invoices, contracts are submitted. It is my understanding that the project will be let for bid soon,” CCEDC Executive Director Welch told the Leader-Press in July. At that time, Welch said he anticipated that the contract would be let in the fourth quarter of this year, with the project having a nine- to 12-month timeline.

Funding for the EDC is tied to its 3/8-cent that it receives of the city’s sales tax revenue, as approved by Copperas Cove voters in the 2020 election.

The other 1/8-cent goes to the city’s Streets Departments which receives that revenue to fund street repair projects.

Also for the upcoming 2022-2023 fiscal year, the EDC’s budget includes $550,000 labeled “infrastructure,” which will take into account plans for the difference in funding for the 1/8-cent, should that special election pass in November.

The Nov. 8 election is for Copperas Cove voters to decide if an additional 1/8-cent of sales tax should be diverted to the city’s streets repair fund. The fund currently receives 1/8-cent of sales tax revenue for street repairs. 

According to the city’s Public Work Director, Scott Osburn, in the city’s upcoming budget for 2022-2023, if the additional 1/8-cent allocation is approved by the voters, employees and much of the operating expense associated with the separate Street Department, which is responsible for pavement, sidewalk and other roadway repairs throughout the City, currently funded out of the General Fund – are proposed to be transferred to the Street Maintenance Team and paid for under the Street Maintenance Fund.

Funds will be allocated for projects as per priorities established by Copperas Cove city council based on the recently-completed City-Wide Pavement Condition Assessment.