Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

NEDERLAND — City officials in Nederland hope to soon announce details of a multi-day COVID-19 testing event to take place next week.

Similar to the Aug. 4-6 event hosted at Lamar State College Port Arthur, Nederland’s testing would be open to the general public and be free of charge.

City Manager Chris Duque said the testing could possibly take place at the Nederland recreation center and would not be a drive-thru service.

On Thursday, the City of Nederland announced the number of total positive COVID-19 test results increased to 281 with seven new positive cases with 126 active cases.

On Tuesday, the city announced the death of a local resident, the sixth linked to COVID-19 since testing began. Health officials said the victim was a White male between 70 and 75 years old with underlying health conditions.

In other business, the City of Nederland announced the proposed Fiscal Year 2020-21 Budget is available for review and would be the subject of a City Council public hearing open to all residents at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 24 at City Hall.

It is available to review at ci.nederland.tx.us/2020-2021_PROPOSED_BUDGET.pdf.

Nederland City Council members voted to propose a tax rate of $0.579708 per $100 assessed taxable value for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

The current tax rate is $0.599159.

Last year, the City Council approved decreasing the tax rate from $0.609578 to $0.599159.

The Vote to Adopt the Tax Rate will be held Sept. 14.

“The Nederland City Council and administration are committed to the Nederland tax rate remaining the lowest tax rate of the full service cities in Jefferson County,” a City of Nederland statement reads.