Brownwood City Council took the first steps in adopting the Fiscal Year 2016/17 Budget of $33,580,634 with a public hearing and discussed setting the local tax rate at Tuesday’s regular meeting.
According to City of Brownwood’s Financial Director Walter Middleton, council along with department heads have worked hard to bring a balanced budget along with pay raises for employees without raising taxes. The proposed $33,580,634 budget is an increase of $814,457 from the FY 2015/16 budget or 2.49% increase.
The tax rate will remain the same as last year, at $0.7463/$100 evaluation. New properties on the tax rolls of the city along with increased evaluations of existing properties added $16,441,309 to the city’s ad valorem tax value causing the city’s effective tax rate to increase 5.4% from last year’s effective rate.
The only increased cost to citizens in Brownwood for FY 2016/17 is an increase in the water consumption rate of 12¢/100 CF or 5.4%. This raises the rate to $2.34/100 CF as compared to $2.30 last year, which will result in an increase to the average residence of approximately $1.20/month. This increase will cover the 8.23% increase in the wholesale cost of treated water from the Brown County Water Improvement District, according to Middleton.The final phase of implementing last year’s pay study are also included in the budget, which adds $32,950, along with Meet and Confer pay raises for police and fire which adds $92,845. All employees were grated a 2% across the board pay raise which will add another $250,634 to the budget.
The budget also includes a new rescue engine for the fire department, which will cost $592,000, but will be financed through a 7-year capital lease
The street department will receive $215,000 for street rehab work which is an addition to the bond funded street improvement projects.
Fuel costs and electricity rates are projected to save the city $310,000 in the coming budget according to Middleton.
Public hearings on the proposed tax rate will take place on September 6, 2016 and again on September 13, 2016. The formal adoptions of the proposed budget and tax rate on first reading will take place at 9:00 a.m. on September 20, 2016 and on second and third readings at 9:00 a.m. on September 27, 2016.
In other matters on Tuesday’s agenda:
*Council approved acceptance of offers on 17 of the 31 city-owned parcels of land listed for sale and authorized the city manager’s signature on contracts for such sales. Mayor Stephen Haynes stated that he thought it was “impressive” to sell that many properties, which were considered difficult to sell in the first two months of listing. “Hats off to Brian Clark,” said Haynes. He stated that Clark had worked to contact adjoining property owners to secure these offers.
*Council accepted the one and only bid received for the Downtown Hot-Mix Project to Prater Equipment for $71,544. The project is set to begin as soon as the contract with Prater is signed along with a Notice to Proceed, according to Assistant City Manager Tim Airheart. It is hoped that the project will be completed before October 28, 2016, before cold weather sets in.
*Council approved Mayoral re-appointments of current Brownwood Housing Authority Board members Rita Hairston and Bill Slaymaker. Slaymaker has served on the board since 1983 and Hairston has served since 2007. Each will serve another 2-year term on the board.
