Still undecided on how to ring in the New Year? If dancing under the stars and watching glitzy fireworks explode over Lake Chapala sounds appealing, get in on the December 31 celebrations the Chapala government is hosting in Chapala and Ajijic.

Scenes of the Lake Chapala area will be featured in a Coca Cola commercial that is scheduled for release next April in the United States and subsequent airings throughout Latin America.

While the Chapala municipal government will maintain 2017 rates for next year’s property taxes (predial), business licenses and other municipal fees, the autonomous water utility, Sistema Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado (SIMAPA), will increase their annual charges for water and sewage services by a hefty 7.38 percent.

In what remains as a messy transition from state to municipal authority over local streets and highways, officers from Jalisco’s Secretaria de Movilidad (SeMov) have been spotted patrolling in La Floresta and other points now outside their assigned areas of control.

As the Christmas Season goes into full swing this weekend, lakeside residents have multiple options to soak up special events and traditional customs that are bound to raise holiday spirits.   

Don’t call the national 911 hotline for help in an emergency, advises a lakeside businessman who was involved in a recent highway accident.