The City of Killeen held a public hearing to discuss a resolution to pay for emergency expenses. The hearing was a result of the tanker explosion that happened at the Mickey's on Veterans Memorial Boulevard back in August.
The explosion caused petroleum to spill into waterways and caused the city to reach out to Cleaning Guys LLC to get it contained. When it was all over, the city was left paying for the cost of the clean up.
After several problems with the budget over the last year, the city approved an amendment to the budget in order to pay for the clean-up cost. Killeen Mayor Jose Segarra says that it will not harm the 2017 budget at all and that they simply will take it from savings they had from the previous year.
"The money was there and so we were able to work it out where we got the money and it's covered," said Segarra. "At times, as much as you try, as best as you can to prepare for emergencies, emergencies like that you will never know what's going to happen."
He says even though there has been controversy with the budget this year he believes it allowed the council to step up and make the right decisions when needed. He feels that the city finally has breathing room with the budget and plans to create a balanced budget for the upcoming year.
