City of Encinal fails to reach agreement on budget approval amid shutdown

ENCINAL, TX . (KGNS) - Several questions remain unanswered for the residents of Encinal.

In a matter of minutes, Encinal City Council did not approve a new fiscal year budget once again.

The same thing happened last week when council did not have enough members to vote on it.

With the new fiscal year already in motion, this means municipal operations for Encinal have been shut down.

Frustration and unanswered questions filled Encinal’s City Hall Monday night.

It was a night for the residence of the small Texas city to get an explanation as to way the city had not turn in its budget to the state before the mandated deadline.

Monday’s meeting began at 6 p.m. and roughly lasted just a few minutes. City council once again was not able to reach an agreement on the next fiscal year’s budget.

The meeting comes after an announcement that was posted on social media Friday by the City of Encinal saying that after not meeting a quorum at the regular meeting on Sept. 28, a fiscal year budget was not approved.

Only the mayor and two of the five council members were present at that meeting.

Those missing were Gilberto Inocencio, Debra Weikel, and Donald Roath.

This caused the city to miss the deadline to submit the budget to the state.

By not meeting the deadline, the city was forced to shut down its municipal operation on Oct. 1 which it did.

The police department, sanitation and offices have been closed until further notice.

Council was given another opportunity on Monday to approve a budget, but ultimately failed.

The meeting adjourned but three councilmembers stayed to address the questions from the public.

KGNS News reached out to councilmember Donald Roath who said in a statement, with the budget not passing the city would revert back to its old budget.

KGNS News attempted to confirm the next steps with the city attorney, but we were denied an interview.

Even though the City of Encinal has shut down operations such as the police department, La Salle County and its sheriff’s office, fire and medical services will step in as needed.

At this time, it’s unclear when city councilmembers will talk about the situation again.

The City of Encinal released a statement saying:

The Mayor, City Council and the Administration are seeking a way to resolve the budget issue as quickly as possible.

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