Agenda

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City Council Regular Meeting

Meeting Date:

09/14/2021

BACKGROUND

At the August 10, 2021 regular session, the City Council, by record vote, established a proposed preliminary maximum tax rate of $0.5121, per $100 of value, with the M&O rate at $0.3517 and the I&S portion of $0.1604. The proposed rate is not subject to rollback.

In accordance with Chapter 26.05(d) of the State’s Property Tax Code, a governing body must hold a public hearing on the tax rate if the proposed tax rate exceeds the lower of the No-New-Revenue or Voter-Approval Tax Rate. In this case the hearing was not required as the proposed rate does not exceed the No-New-Revenue rate.

A public hearing was held on August 24, 2021 regular session of City Council. A second public hearing was conducted on September 7, 2021.

During the tax rate adoption process Council can approve a lower rate, however they will not be able to approve a rate higher than this without republishing the notices and holding additional public hearings. Due to timing constraints set by the State Tax Code 26.05(a), the latest council could set a new preliminary rate is September 7, 2021 without calling special meetings or declaring an emergency.

Per Sec 26.05(b) of the Tax Code, the tax rate can only be adopted with more than 60% of the votes in favor of the proposed tax rate. Since Schertz has 7 voting councilmembers, 5 members must vote in favor of the tax rate for it to pass.

GOAL

To adopt a tax rate in compliance with state statues and the City Charter.

COMMUNITY BENEFIT

The programs funded by this tax rate will provide additional benefits and service levels to the community.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION

Staff recommends adoption of the tax rate of $0.5121

FISCAL IMPACT

The proposed maximum rate maintains quality service to residents and businesses and provides growth in service offerings based on input staff received from Citizens and Council from Retreats, Community Meetings, Citizen Survey, and elections. The current property tax rate is $0.5121 per $100 valuation. The proposed maximum tax rate will be $0.5121 per $100 valuation. The M&O portion of the property tax rate will increase to $0.3517 from $0.3470 per $100 valuation. The I&S portion will decrease to $0.1604 from $0.1651 per $100 valuation.

This tax rate will raise more taxes for Maintenance and Operations than last year’s tax rate. The tax rate will effectively be raised by 0.1% and will raise taxes for maintenance and operations on a $100,000 home by approximately $0.20.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends that the City Council approve Ordinance No. 21-T-39 approving the Fiscal Year 2021-22 Proposed Tax Rate on final reading.

Since the proposed rate is lower than the no-new-revenue rate, there is no specific motion to adopt that must be made.

Attachments
Ordinance 21-T-39