Visitors using the once-free boat ramps on Lake LBJ at Sunrise Beach Village parks now have to pay. The city recently passed Ordinance 407, which requires non-residents to purchase daily or annual passes to use the ramps at:

• McNair Park, 213 Park Road;
• GSLE Park, 335 Park Lane;
• or Lakeshore Park, 501 Park Terrace.

Sunrise Beach Village residents and property owners are eligible for two free launch passes per household per year. Each additional pass is $200.

The new rule is to fairly spread the cost of ramp maintenance, according to Mayor Rob Hardy.

“We absolutely do not want to deter folks from coming into Sunrise Beach, to launch their boats or for any other reason,” Hardy told DailyTrib.com. “At the same time, boat ramp usage is not maintenance-free, and it did not seem fair to burden only the residents for usage (through taxes) and not folks that don’t live here (to) help with the upkeep.”

The new ordinance only applies to trailered watercraft. Canoes, paddleboats, paddleboards, and kayaks launched by hand and not transported by trailer are exempt.

Day passes may be purchased for $10 at a city-owned boat ramp by scanning a posted QR code. These passes are only valid on the date of purchase, and payment must be made prior to launching or retrieving any trailered watercraft.

Annual applications for residents and non-residents may be obtained on the city’s website or at City Hall, 124 Sunrise Beach Drive. An annual pass for non-residents is $200. Yearly passes come with a sticker that must be displayed above the state registration tag on the tow vehicle’s windshield.

The tow vehicle must be registered to the pass applicant at the same address listed on the application. Annual passes:

• are valid for the calendar year, expiring on Dec. 31; 
• are non-transferable;
• and must be renewed annually.

Those violating the city’s boat launch pass ordinance face fines of $100 to $200. Each day the vehicle is in violation will be treated as a separate offense.

The new boat launch policy was developed in response to resident feedback and several months of public input. Until now, Sunrise Beach Village was one of the few communities on Lake LBJ that did not charge for ramp use. 

maci@thepicayune.com

The Marble Falls City Council passed its 2025-26 fiscal year budget Tuesday, Sept. 16, locking in spending similar to 2024-25 numbers. 

The approved budget remains largely unchanged from the version proposed in August, which had a strong focus on maintaining current services, rather than expanding government, due to less-than-expected sales-tax and ad valorem revenue for the city going into the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

“With the budget (this year), we decided to be as conservative as possible,” said Mayor John Packer when the budget was originally proposed. “You’ve got to spend more to keep up (with growth), but my goal as mayor is to keep the tax rate the same or even lower it a little bit.”

Most city departments saw nearly flat funding with few, if any, upgrades to personnel or services provided. 

BUDGET AT A GLANCE

Marble Falls is budgeting for about $21.92 million in total revenue for the city’s general fund, which will be used to support day-to-day operations and expenditures for the coming year. This is about 1.85 percent higher than the city’s 2024-25 budgeted revenues of $21.52 million.

The revenue comes from diverse sources, but it is mainly made up of property taxes, sales tax, city services, licenses and permitting, and other governmental processes. 

PROPERTY TAX

The City Council approved a $0.5350-per-$100-property-valuation tax to help fund its 2025-26 budget. This is the same rate the city adopted for 2024-25, but it will raise more funds than last year due to a rise in property values and new construction.

The newly approved tax rate will raise about $4.02 million in the coming year. This is about $408,000 more, or an 11 percent increase, from 2024-25’s total of $3.61 million. 

Property taxes represent a little over 18 percent of the city’s total budgeted revenues for the 2025-26 budget.

SALES TAX

The city’s expected sales-tax revenue for 2025-26 is $11.38 million, the same projected revenue the city expects for the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. The expected lack of growth in sales-tax revenue was part of the reason for growth in government being kept to a minimum this budget year.

The predicted $11.38 million represents about 52 percent of the city’s total budgeted revenues for 2025-26.

OTHER SOURCES

With about $15.4 million, or roughly 70 percent, of the city’s $21.92 million budgeted revenues coming from property and sales tax, the remaining 30 percent comes from several other sources.

• charges for services, $1.83 million
• direct transfers in from other funds, $1.81 million
• licenses and permits, $950,000
• franchise fees, $791,000
• fines and forfeitures, $365,000
• miscellaneous, $324,000
• intergovernmental, $236,000
• debt proceeds, $115,000
• mixed beverage tax, $90,000

UTILITIES

Separate from the city’s general fund is its utility fund, which takes in revenue from fees for water and wastewater services in Marble Falls. These funds are generally used for the maintenance, improvement, and support of the city’s water and wastewater infrastructure.

The city is budgeting for about $11.52 million in revenue for 2025-26. This is about $359,000 more than 2024-25’s budgeted $11.16 million.

While the city has budgeted for over $11 million in revenue this current fiscal year and the coming fiscal year, it only took in about $9 million in 2023-24 and $9.7 million in 2022-23.

dakota@thepicayune.com

The 1,100-acre Thunder Rock community in Marble Falls is now in Phase II of development. The next stage includes building 214 single-family homes on 50-foot lots at prices starting in the low $290,000s. 

The Centurion American Development Group development is located at the northwest corner of U.S. 281 and Texas 71. It broke ground on Phase I in September 2021.

National homebuilders D.R. Horton and Lennar have opened model homes on Thunder Rock Boulevard and Standing Rock Lane to showcase their Phase II floor plans.

“Thunder Rock’s continued momentum highlights the growing demand for high-quality homes in this region,” said Rob Romo of Centurion American in a media release announcing Phase II. “Buyers are looking for communities that blend a connection to nature with access to everyday conveniences—and Thunder Rock delivers on both.”

As Thunder Rock expands, the community will eventually include a 26-acre city-owned sportsplex, a 10-acre recreational center, over 204,000 square-feet of future commercial space, parks and hike-and-bike trails, and a preserved native habitat along Flatrock Creek.

Thunder Rock is also home to Prose Thunder Rock, an apartment complex at 1201 Centurion Parkway. The Greystar-managed complex offers one- and two-bedroom units ranging from 696 square-feet to 1,174 square-feet.

At its completion, Thunder Rock will have 1,966 single-family homesites, 924 multi-family units, and 71 active-adult units, all falling within the Marble Falls Independent School District. 

editor@thepicayune.com

The Burnet County Commissioners Court approved the county’s budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year during a lengthy meeting Tuesday, Sept. 16, at the Burnet County AgriLife Extension building in Burnet. Before the document was adopted, county leaders butted heads over how public dollars would be spent.

The approved budget maintained most of its key features, like a reduced tax rate, no new debt, moderate spending, limited governmental growth, and a focus on county road and bridge infrastructure projects. But a few major changes were worked out on Tuesday in the public eye.

The originally proposed 2.7-percent cost-of-living raises for elected officials were cut, along with a few hundred thousand dollars from several sources to fund the hiring of four new deputies and promotions for mid-level management staff in the Burnet County Sheriff’s Office.

These changes brought to a head an ongoing struggle between Burnet County Judge Bryan Wilson and the Sheriff’s Office centered around Wilson’s refusal to include funding for the deputies and promotions in the budget in an effort to keep county costs down. 

Ultimately, Precinct 2 Commissioner Damon Beierle presented about $435,000 in cuts to the proposed budget to accommodate the needed salaries, benefits, and expenses for BCSO requests.

The changes were made, with Wilson the sole dissenter in the court’s vote.

BUDGET APPROVAL AND CHANGES

During Tuesday’s meeting, the Burnet County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to cut the 2.7 percent raises for all elected officials, which amounted to about $90,000. County employees will still receive the raise.

Precinct 1 Commissioner Jim Luther made the motion to remove the raises and the other members of the court agreed, despite unanimously approving pay increases in August.

“I just thought it was an appropriate action to take,” Luther told DailyTrib.com after the meeting.

The court also chose to not approve Wilson’s proposed budget despite an earlier motion to do so during Tuesday’s meeting. Dockery and Wilson voted in favor of adoption of an unaltered budget, but this was shot down in a 3-2 vote with Beierle, Luther, and Precinct 3 Commissioner Chad Collier on the other side.

Beierle then proposed a few hundred thousand dollars in cuts to the budget to make room for four deputies and five corporal promotions for the Sheriff’s Office. The request had been continually denied by Wilson in the weeks of budget work held in open court. 

“If we take the scalpel out, and we start shaving off some of these here and there, we can lower the tax rate, we can limit the growth of government. But then, if we take this money, we can add the four new deputies and new corporal (promotions) to the Sheriff’s Office,” Beierle said.

Wilson questioned Beierle’s motives.

“You’re working towards an agenda in your proposal here that is flying in the face of all the data that we’ve been talking about for weeks now,” the judge said.

Wilson was referring to several numbers shared with the Commissioners Court, including: 

• a 30-percent drop in major crimes in Burnet County over the past three years;
• a 34 percent increase in BCSO field and leadership staff numbers over the past five years;
• and a 46.8 percent raise in wages for those positions.

He also noted that the traditional markers for adding law enforcement personnel are an increase in crime, excessive response times, or statutory requirements.

“None of those things are here,” Wilson said. “We’re just adopting additional law enforcement and you’re striving to modify the budget for no other reason than political gain? Is that what is going on here?”

Beierle rejected Wilson’s accusation.

“Let me explain where I’m coming from,” the commissioner said. “I’ve been here since 2019. And since I’ve been here, I’ve been talking to (BCSO Chief Deputy Alan Trevino) and (Sheriff Calvin Boyd) to find a way to district out the county better so that those people that call (in rural areas) can get a better response and deputies can be in those areas.” 

Sheriff Boyd stepped up to the mic to back his department’s request for new deputies.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about; you do everything with numbers,” Boyd told Judge Wilson. “When you call 911, I want us to be there as soon as we can and I also want to keep my guys safe. That’s the goal we’re working for. It has nothing to do with politics.”

According to Beierle and Boyd, the new deputies would help reduce response times to the county’s remote areas, like Briggs, Oakalla, Smithwick, and Spicewood, which can be 20-30 minutes depending on the location of the deputies on duty at the time.

Ultimately, the Commissioners Court found $435,000 in the budget for the deputies and corporal promotions, mostly made up of the $90,000 in discarded raises for elected officials and $130,000 from eliminating a proposed public information manager position, along with minor cuts to several line items.

The court approved the changes to the budget in a 4-1 vote, with Wilson dissenting. 

“I’m just shocked that in one single year that we can’t hold the line (on Sheriff’s Office spending),” Wilson said.

The Burnet County Sheriff’s Office accounts for roughly $9.7 million, or about 23.95 percent, of the county’s $40.5 million in the fiscal year 2025-26 general fund. This represents a 44 percent increase over the past two years. The BSCO budget was $7.86 million in 2024-25 and $6.69 million in 2023-24. 

Boyd agreed that the Sheriff’s Office has seen large leaps in funding but argued it was long overdue and likely wouldn’t be the end of the requests.

“It looks like we’ve really been getting a lot in the last few years—and we have been because we needed it, and we need more,” he said. “The reality is, from where we started, we needed those increases. We were so far behind.”

BUDGET AT A GLANCE

As the county’s budget officer, Burnet County Judge Wilson developed the budget and tax rate for fiscal year 2025-26, which starts Oct. 1, alongside the county auditor and put it forth for approval by the Commissioners Court.

Tax rate

The budget is funded by a new total tax rate of $0.3323 per $100 property valuation, which is 6.1 percent lower than the fiscal year 2024-25 rate of $0.3541.

While the tax rate was lowered overall, more money was raised due to elevated property evaluations and new construction in the county.

General fund

The 2025-26 budget will bring in $40.5 million in tax revenue for the general fund, which is expected to have about $43.1 million in expenses this fiscal year. The $1.6 million difference between these figures will be paid for out of the county’s fund balance, which is a pool of unallocated money used for unexpected expenses, emergencies, or to help balance the budget if needed.

This year’s $40.5 million in property tax revenue is about $2.39 million more, or 6.28 percent, than fiscal year 2024-25.

The $40.5 million in general fund revenue will come from the $0.2445 portion of the total tax rate for the year. The money raised by that specific portion of the rate can only be used for general fund expenses.

Road and bridge fund

The new tax rate also raises about $7.5 million for the road and bridge fund, which can only be used for county transportation-related expenses. In addition, $1.6 million was dedicated from the fund balance to accomplish further road and bridge infrastructure upgrades, maintenance, and projects.

The $7.5 million in road and bridge fund revenue will come from the $0.0460 portion of the total tax rate for the year. The money raised by that specific portion of the rate can only be used for road and bridge fund expenses.

Debt service fund

No new tax notes were taken on by Burnet County with this budget, maintaining the total outstanding debt at around $22.72 million. This is the first time since at least 2022 that the county has not taken on new debt. This debt was accrued from an array of sources in recent years:

• $2.53 million issued for various upgrades in 2019; $405,000 remaining on balance
• $6 million issued for various upgrades in 2020; $4.125 million remaining on balance
• $13.375 million issued for jail bond refunding in 2021; $9.985 million remaining on balance
• $6 million issued for refunding in 2022; $1.9 million remaining on balance
• $5 million issued for road and bridge projects in 2023; $2.18 million remaining on balance
• $5 million issued for roads, equipment, and repairs in 2024; $3.465 million remaining on balance.
• other debt amounts to $661,248

The county is putting about $6.6 million toward debt payments this year using the $0.0418 portion of the total tax rate for the debt service fund. The money raised by that specific portion of the rate can only be used for debt service fund expenses.

dakota@thepicayune.com

A woman faces a murder charge in the death of her mother in the Blue Lake community of Llano County.

Llano County Sheriff’s Office deputies responding to a “reported homicide” on the afternoon of Sept. 12 in the 200 block of Blue Waters Drive found Glenna Whitmarsh dead on arrival, according to an LCSO media release.

Whitmarsh’s daughter, Dana Lynne Meador, was arrested and charged with murder following an investigation by LCSO with support from the Texas Rangers. She was being held on a $750,000 bond at the Llano County Jail as of Tuesday, Sept. 16.

“Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the family and friends of Ms. Whitmarsh during this incredibly difficult time,” reads a Tuesday statement from the LCSO.

The investigation is ongoing and no threat to the public exists, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

editor@thepicayune.com

The plaintiffs in an ongoing First Amendment lawsuit involving the Llano County Library System have officially petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case.

The petition, filed Sept. 11 by a group of Llano County residents and library users, comes after the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the case’s defendants in May, meaning 17 books that had been previously returned to the shelves of Llano County libraries were again removed. A ruling prior to this most recent one had determined it was unconstitutional to remove the books, which are mostly about race, gender, and sexuality.

LEARN MORE about the history of the case, the books, and the appeals court’s latest decision in the May 28 DailyTrib.com story “Appeals court reversal puts book decision back in Llano County’s hands.”

With the petition for a writ of certiorari filed, the defendants named in the civil suit, Leila Green Little, et al. v. Llano County, et al., have until Oct. 14 to either request an extension or file their rebuttal against the request for a Supreme Court hearing. 

The suit’s defendants are Llano County Library System Director Amber Milam, Llano County Judge Ron Cunningham, current Llano County commissioners Jerry Don Moss, Peter Jones, and Linda Raschke, and former Commissioner Mike Sandoval.

Plaintiffs are Llano County residents Leila Green Little, Jeanne Puryear, Kathy Kennedy, Rebecca Jones, Richard Day, Cynthia Waring, and Diane Moster.

If accepted by the Supreme Court, the case would likely get a hearing in the spring of 2026. If the court were to deny the petition, the case would effectively be brought to a close, leaving the decision on what books can and cannot be on library shelves in the hands of Llano County officials.

READ the full petition for a writ of certiorari at this link.

CASE’S BACKGROUND

In December 2021, 17 books were removed from Llano County Library System shelves without any sort of official process. The books topics’ covered race and racism, sexuality and gender, and even farts. A group of county residents and library users filed a federal lawsuit in April 2022 against the county claiming their First and 14th amendment rights were violated.

In March 2023, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman sided with the plaintiffs, agreeing that the removal of the books was unconstitutional. He ordered the titles be put back on the shelves.

The defendants appealed Pitman’s decision to the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. A panel of judges from that court mostly agreed with Pitman’s order, ruling that eight of the 17 books be returned to library shelves.

The Fifth Circuit Court’s decision was then appealed by the defendants, who requested the entire court, rather than a panel, hear the case. In May 2025, the full appeals court reversed the previous decision and ruled that Llano County officials had the right to decide what can and cannot be in the libraries.

dakota@thepicayune.com

Over 200 people gathered for a candlelight vigil for slain conservative political activist Charlie Kirk on Sept. 14 at Johnson Park in Marble Falls. 

A social media post by Highland Lakes resident Kiel Arnone on Sept. 13 called for a gathering to “honor the life of Charlie Kirk” on Sunday evening in the large, open field on the west side of the park. The next day, dozens of attendees came together at the memorial.

Several people spoke, there was communal prayer, and music was played over the course of the one-hour ceremony. While the vigil was held on city property, it was not a city-sponsored event, according to Arnone’s original post, but rather a community-led gathering.

The Highland Lakes area is not alone in mourning Kirk’s death, as memorials have already taken place or are planned for the near future across the country. 

The 31-year-old Kirk was shot and killed on Sept. 10 while at a speaking event with his organization Turning Point USA at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. A suspect in the shooting, 22-year-old Utah resident Tyler Robinson, was arrested Sept. 12. As of Sept. 15, authorities are still investigating the motivations behind the killing. 

dakota@thepicayune.com

Horseshoe Bay Mayor Elsie Thurman has announced she will not seek re-election when her term ends in October.

“I have made the personal decision not to run for re-election because I want to have more time to be with my out-of-state family and with my husband,” Thurman told DailyTrib.com. 

Thurman has been active in city affairs since 2019, beginning as a member of the Long-Range Planning Committee. She was elected to the City Council in November 2020 and won a mayoral race in 2023.

“It has been an honor and a pleasure for me to serve as the mayor of Horseshoe Bay,” she said. “I have frequently been asked what my favorite part of the job has been, and, without a doubt, the answer is always the people.”

The upcoming election, originally scheduled for Nov. 4, would have determined the next mayor and two members of the council. However, because all candidates are running unopposed, the election was canceled. 

Current Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Jones will be sworn in as mayor on Nov. 10. Accompanying Jones will be current Councilor Frank Hosea and former Councilor Ruben Fechner in a return to the dais.

Thurman expressed confidence in her successor, who joined the council in 2023.

“(Jones) brings youthful energy, sharp legal insight, and the rare ability to listen with genuine intent to understand,” she said in her recent Mayor’s Monthly Message to the community.

maci@thepicayune.com

A San Antonio man was killed in a collision just south of the U.S. 281 bridge in Marble Falls on Sept. 12. 

The Marble Falls Police Department and other local agencies responded to the scene in the 800 block of U.S. 281 at around 3:20 p.m. Friday. 

Clinton Meineke, 28, of San Antonio was traveling northbound on the highway when he reportedly lost control of his vehicle, left the road, and then veered back, sliding into oncoming traffic. His Pontiac SUV struck a Dodge Ram truck driven by William Toomey, 53, of Dripping Springs. 

Meineke died at the scene. Toomey was transported by helicopter to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center, where he was listed in stable condition, according to a report from law enforcement.

editor@thepicayune.com