Schulenburg Continues to Struggle With Street Costs

Last year the Record reported that Schulenburg spent more on its streets than the other cities in Fayette County, even its larger neighbor La Grange. With the passage of municipal budgets last month, that situation remains the same.

Schulenburg budgeted $1,024,004 for its street department in the new fiscal year. That compares to about $647,000 in the new City of La Grange street budget and about $502,000 in the City of Flatonia street budget.

Schulenburg actually cut about $200,000 from last year’s street budget of $1,205,000. The City pays about $118,000 annually for payment on a $1.1 million street bond issued in 2003. 

So why does Schulenburg outspend it’s larger neighbor to the north on streets? While La Grange and Flatonia use outside contractors to perform much of their street work, Schulenburg does most of its work in-house.

“The City of Schulenburg has a large investment in equipment. No doubt, we are behind on providing the best services we can to our citizens,” said Schulenburg City Administrator Tami Blaschke-Walker.

Walker said some Schulenburg residents have been waiting years for the City to resurface the streets in front of their homes. 

“Infrastructure is key to a community,” Walker said. “Unfortunately, our residents have not had roads replaced or redone in a long time, mostly due to change of focus and other projects.”

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