E-Town Council approves 2026-2027 budget, seats for outdoor music venue

The Elizabethtown City Council met for their second regular meeting of the month Monday.

The council approved the 2026-2027 city budget on the budget ordinance’s second reading. Members of the council expressed their thanks to city department heads for their work on the budget and highlighted projects outlined, including enhancements for parks and recreation. Council Member Tony Bishop said he is happy to see the city working to better connect the community with the completion of the Commerce Drive extension.

“When I first came on the council, that was something that was discussed and it was just a dream in a way, but now we’re at a point where all groups, all of the partnerships that we have between on the state level, the county level, and now all the things we have coming together just to see that road connect our town from one end to the other,” Bishop said.

The council also approved ordinances on their second readings which annexed 1615 Saint John Road, to be zoned Urban Residential (R-4), and amended the borders for the Downtown Elizabethtown Historic Preservation Overlay to include more historic sites including the Brown-Pusey House.

A municipal order was approved accepting the bid from SpecSeats International for the seating at the outdoor music venue. The council rejected the original bidding on the seats, and after project organizers drafted new bid requirements the bid was accepted for $767,300 or $830,300 with cupholders.

Several bids for materials for the city’s Public Works Department were accepted. Public Works Director Don Hill said costs are up but not dramatically.

“If you look at the paving, on the bituminous concrete there was about a 6 percent increase,” Hill said. “Liquid asphalt is down this month. Earlier in the year, it was right around $700 a ton, $710. It’s at $690 per ton. That’s 6 percent of the composition of the bituminous concrete.”

The Elizabethtown City Council will next meet June 22.