The need for a school zone sign along Loop 564 near the new Mineola Primary School led the city to annex the loop right-of-way around the city.

Currently much of the loop is not in the city limits, but with Monday’s annexation, the entire loop will fall under city jurisdiction.

City Manager Mercy Rushing said one benefit to annexing the loop is that city utilities can be placed in the right-of-way for future development.

It also gives Mineola police jurisdiction over the entire roadway, rather than only some sections.

The city council then turned its attention to several budget matters.

The city’s employee health insurance plan, which had been slated to increase by $41,000, instead came in with a $36,000 reduction after being renegotiated.

The savings came from eliminating out-of-network providers. The large majority of city employee claims are from in-network providers.

Remaining benefits were mostly unchanged, and in some cases, had additional savings, such as co-pays dropping from $30 to $15.

Finance Director Cindy Karch gave a proposed property tax rate of 54.4 cents per $100 valuation, which if approved by the council, will increase the city’s tax rate by 1.85 cents.

Karch noted that frozen taxes for senior citizens negated increased property values.

Public Works Director Kyle McCoy presented the public works budget and spent much of his time talking about the water rate study the city recently commissioned, advocating for rate increases to help cover rising costs and offering competitive salaries so that Mineola is not a training ground for other cities.

The city has raised water and sewer rates 3% per year for the past two years and is budgeting that amount again this time.

The water rate study recommended larger increases, especially for higher use customers.

McCoy also suggested raising the rates for customers outside the city, who currently pay less than $1 per month more than those inside the city.