Opinion by Stephanie Lippke Every magic trick works the same way. The magician makes you watch the hand that's waving. The trick happens in the other one. Elgin is being shown the waving hand. What the Mayor's group is doing In my opinion, Mayor Theresa McShan, Mayor Pro Tem YaLecia Love and Council Member Arthur Gibson have made a choice: rather than defend their decisions, they have made the people asking about those decisions into the story. Council Members Brenda Piña, Li

Twenty-two days. That’s how much time passed between Charles E. Lino being terminated as City Manager of Pecos and appearing in a statewide municipal directory as the new Finance Director for the City of Elgin. Elgin hasn’t announced his hiring. His departure from Pecos followed months of controversy over information councilmembers said he knew and failed to disclose. And now Robert Eads, the Elgin City Manager responsible for hiring City employees, is reportedly on indefinit

Elgin City Council is heading into a September 1 vote on a higher property tax rate and a revised FY2027 budget, but the story behind that vote is not a simple one. For months, City staff spent significant time and resources building more than $5 million in department requests. Council then spent weeks talking through that wish list, which was eventually narrowed to about $3.4 million. Now, after all of that work, the higher proposed tax rate would bring in only about $510,00

Imagine a normal Wednesday morning in October. You flush the toilet and nothing happens, then turn on the faucet and no water comes out. There is no hurricane, freeze or Snowmageddon; a major component of Elgin's water or wastewater infrastructure simply failed, and whatever broke has to be repaired immediately. That scenario is why cities maintain utility reserves. Pumps fail, motors burn out, water lines break and treatment equipment eventually reaches the end of its useful

The City has already said there will be no more administrative transfers from the Utility Fund to the General Fund in FY27. Utility transfers will be limited to capital-related expenses. That is an important change. It also creates a very simple budget question: What replaces the roughly $2 million the General Fund received from Utility last year? Think of it like a household budget Imagine your household loses a second income of $2,000 a month. At the same time, you get a ra

Wrong Agreements, Conflicting Dates and a Watchdog: Council Stops the Triada Vote. The Elgin City Council tabled the Triada Strategic Partnership Agreement Tuesday night after the agenda packet sent Council and the public through records tied to three different developments. The packet included a Strategic Partnership Agreement for Harvest Ridge and Altessa Municipal Utility District instead of the correct Triada agreement. The executive summary also listed a May 2025 approv