Brownwood City Council set dates to formally adopt the 2014/2015 City budget and also proposed the property tax rate at Tuesday’s meeting of the council.
A public hearing was held Tuesday morning regarding the proposed City of Brownwood’s budget for fiscal year 2014/2015, no members of the public took the opportunity to speak regarding the budget. Dates for formal adoption of the budget ordinance on first reading were set for September 16, 2014 and on second and third readings September 23, 2014. The proposed budget is $31,571,063, which is an increase of 3.02% from the FY 2013/2014 budget.
The proposed budget includes 3% raises for city employees and no increases for tax, water, sewer, sanitation or landfill rates, according to City of Brownwood Finance Director Walter Middleton.
Council also discussed the tax rate for FY 2014/2015 and proposed tax rate of $0.7463 per $100 value exceeds the effective tax rate. Council scheduled public hearings on the tax rate for September 9, 2014 and September 12, 2014. Council also set dates of September 16, 2014 and September 23, 2014 to consider adopting this rate.The certified tax roll was received increasing the property values from an estimated $780,000,000 to the certified value of $784,554,432, an increase of projected property tax revenue by $33,989, which is the cause for the effective rate of property taxes in Brownwood rising 6.36% within the city.
Although the effective tax rate is increasing due to an increase of properties on the tax roll and the recent significant rise in property valuations, the property tax rate citizens will pay will not increase. According Middleton, Brown County Appraisal District reported that the value of the average home in Brownwood increased 9.38% from $75,738 to $82,839 this year.
Mayor Stephen Haynes clarified the increase in the effective tax rate, “I think this has been true every year I have served on the council, that we have had an increase in values and therefore a slight tax increase. The same is true this year although the percentage of the increase in evaluations has gone up more dramatically. Nonetheless, the rate remains unchanged at 0.7463 per $100 valuation resulting in the effective tax rate increase.”
