City moves to set tax rate
The San Marcos City Council took the first step toward setting the tax rate for Fiscal Year 2019 when it held a public hearing on the tax rate and approved the first reading of the ordinance setting the rate.
“This is the first step in the approval of our budget process,” Finance Director Heather Hurlbert told the council. “We’ve worked for many months getting this together.”
The proposed tax rate — 61.39 cents per $100 of taxable value — is the same as last year’s, but because property values have increased, the tax rate would bring in more money. The effective tax rate — the rate the city could adopt to bring in the same amount of tax revenue as least year — is 58.38 cents per $100 of valuation. Because the proposed rate is higher than the effective rate, Hurlbert explained, the city is required to hold two public hearings on the tax rate before adopting it.
The proposed tax rate, according to the text of the ordinance, will raise more taxes for maintenance and operations. With the increased property values in the city, the tax rate will effectively be 3.9 percent higher than last year’s and will raise taxes for maintenance and operations by about $24 on a $100,000 home. The proposed rate is below the rollback tax rate of 65.3 cents — the highest tax rate the city could adopt without holding an election and letting voters decide on the rate.
In other business, the council approved a resolution to publish the Notice of Intention to issue certificates of obligation to the Texas Water Development Board (TWDB).
“This is for financing through TWDB for reimbursement for the purchase of the Millican tract,” Hurlbert told the council.
The TWDB is giving the city financial assistance for the purchase of that tract of land, which is part of an effort to preserve undeveloped land where water runs into the Edwards Aquifer and San Marcos River. Maintaining the Millican tract as greenspace will help water quality in the Upper San Marcos River by mitigating nonpoint source pollution. The TWDB granted the city a $3.2 million loan, with almost $1.275 of that a forgivable loan. The city intends to issue $1.935 million in certificates of obligation to the TWDB for financing the purchase.
rblackburn@sanmarcosrecord.com
Twitter: @arobingoestweet
