City of Jasper shifting gears

Mayor Clark McClane declares September 2025 to be Sepsis Awareness Month with Christus representatives

The Jasper City Council met in session Wednesday night, voting through several key items that have direct impact on the citizens of Jasper.

District 4 Councilmember Angel McCroskey made a motion to move $1,000,000 from the SRMPA funds to the Light and Power Fund. According to McCroskey, this is meant to be used to offset raising electric rates for citizens over an 8-month period – December 2025 thru July 2026. District 2 Councilmember Bob Mayhar asked City Manager Greg Kelley “I would like to hear how that’s going to impact the city” Kelley responded by saying, “On the original budget we sent to y’all, it had a $400,000 short fall… If you are not going to do the rate increase, that makes it almost a million-dollar short fall. The rate increase would only make up a portion… You’ve got the money in the SRMPA to do it, we will still be behind on the rates and so next year’s following rate study…the rates will have to go up more. But next year it would bring us back into the black into the regular fund…” Mayhar asked, “So we are not just kicking the can down the road and have to pay the price later?” Kelley stated, “At some point you are going to have to pay the price.” The motion passed.

Along with the allocation of SRMPA funds, McCroskey added into her motion not to give the City of Jasper employees a cost-of-living wage increase. Mayhar challenged the idea of not giving employees a raise, to offset the 3% annual rise in inflation, as a cut to employee wages. McCroskey said, “No sir…” Mayhar said, “Their dollar, when they go to the store, is going to be worth less because of inflation. So, if we do not give them a raise to keep them where they were, in theory they are taking a pay cut.” McCroskey said, “I do not want to do any kind of pay cut.”  District 3 Council member Demarcus Holmes looked at Mayhar saying, “You are creating fear. You are doing what you do. You create fear.” The motion to not give the raise passed

McCroskey then presented her next motion, to reclaim $61,500 from the Jasper Lakes Sam Rayburn Area Chamber of Commerce and use the money to restore the Beatty-Orton Home, which will be used for the New City of Jasper Tourism Office. These are the funds collected from Hotel Occupancy Taxes or “Heads in Beds” as it’s been called. This money is accumulated when visitors sleep at our hotels while attending events held in or around Jasper. The Tourism Office will have employees, but according to McCroskey, the office, housed in the Beatty-Orton home, will draw more tourism downtown and will help with its revitalization. That motion passed as well.

Sources say that Council member McCroskey went to the Chamber asking for the accounting of HOT funds provided by the city in the past. Conflict arose between Beverly Holley, the outgoing director, and McCroskey over the legality of releasing that information to a councilmember considering the Chamber does not operate under the City of Jasper’s purview. The City of Jasper has historically contracted with the Chamber of Commerce to work as boots on the ground as festival and event organizers, sponsorship gatherers, etc. McCroskey said that Jasper was “not going to lose any events.” The city will now have to pay their own workforce to manage all events moving forward.