During its recent meeting, the Marble Falls Economic Development Corporation board approved a community leverage application of $24,000 requested by Villa Vista Park.
Board members including Judy Miller, Ryan Nash, John Packer (also the Marble Falls
mayor), Mark Mayfield (board vice president) Lindsay Plante, Steve Reitz (board president) and Dave Rhodes voted unanimously in favor of the request.
According to Parks and Recreation Superintendent Jake Eason, the
funds will be expended to expand and resurface the park basketball court.
To be sure, during
its June 4 meeting at city hall, 800 Third Street, the board denied the original request for $40,000, because that amount would push the EDC annual community leverage budget limit above $100,000.
After Oct. 1 (which Fiscal Year 2026 begins) perhaps the park could
EDC present to the EDC board another application for $16,000, Reitz
said.
“I think we could certainly take a look at that,” he added.
Also during the meeting, Executive Director Christian Fletcher reported EDC is on track to accrue a fund balance of more $8 million through end of September 2025, more than 10% above initial expectations.
“We are well ahead of where we expected we would be,” Fletcher said.
During her report, Assistant Director Midge Dockery mentioned the Texas Office
of the Governor and the EDC will sponsor the Texas Small Business Credit Initiative Lender Roundtable at 2 p.m. June 25 in Marble Falls at the First Baptist Church, 901 La Ventana Drive.
Roundtable participants plan to discuss possible methods to increase lending to small businesses, Dockery said.
Several invitations to the meeting have been sent to groups suggested by the Texas tourism office, she added.
“We have had a great response,” Dockery said.
During her report, Downtown and Marketing Manager Erin Burks told the board the Tax Increment Reinvestment Zone and core downtown area from second to fourth streets collected sales tax revenue of more than $83,000 through the end of March, an increase of almost 1% compared to March 2024.
“People are still coming downtown to spend their time,” Burks told The Highlander.
During time set aside for public comment, Burnet County
Pct. 4 Commissioner Joe Don Dockery mentioned that the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (CAMPO) recently started to review possible updates to the county transportation plan, at no cost to the county.
In his role as precinct 4 Burnet County commissioner, he is the main contact for CAMPO related to the review.
“We will be doing outreach through all of Burnet County,” Dockery said.
CAMPO analysts hope to complete the review by January 2026, he added.
Also during the meeting, the board unanimously accepted the bid of more than $29,000 by Bobby Sandford LLC to provide electric light poles to complete the Backbone Creek pedestrian bridge and trails project.
