When the economy took a turn for the worse, Jill Colley's family was one of those affected.
"It was just really rough," said Colley.
After a 12 year career in a manufacturing business, her father was out of a job.
"You thought his job would have been stable but no," said Colley.
She said that experience taught her a thing or two now that she's living on her own.
"I'm trying to budget and not have to live check by check," said Colley.
Cities across the Valley are doing the same as they propose their 2010-2011 budgets.
"We are proposing a very lean budget just to make sure that we are able to continue with our services to the community," said Edinburg City Manager Ramiro Garza, Jr.
It's a $76,697,210 proposal going towards public services, public safety and purchasing city equipment to name a few.
The city of Edinburg tells Action 4 News, it has an estimated 2 million dollar loss of revenue, but Garza said the primary goal is not to eliminate jobs or increase property taxes.
"We've just been able to balance the budget in ways that the tax rates are not affected," said Garza.
Some of the challenges Edinburg has faced during the economic downturn, includes loss of revenues from a decrease of new homes and a decrease in business activity.
"We do see that improving, but at this point, we do see a slight decrease," said Garza.
Garza said an international business is coming to the city, and he expects it will bring about 800 jobs, and he hopes the business activity will increase.
The proposed budget will be presented in a public hearing September 21.
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