HUTTO – Hutto City Manager James Earp presented a budget based on a no-new-revenue tax rate at the Aug. 3 council meeting. The overall recommended budget for fiscal year 2024 totals $351,016,797 for all city funds, including the capital improvement projects prioritized by City Council.
The budget accounts for $2,021,320 in added funds from property taxes over last year’s budget. The 12.37% increase is largely from new properties added to the tax roll.
The proposed NNR tax rate would decrease from the current $0.47093 per $100 valuation to $0.42198 per $100 valuation in home value. While the rate will go down, a home owner may find their tax bill increases if their property value increased more than the average Hutto home.
“The city of Hutto just cannot afford ever-increasing property taxes,” said Ida Weaver, communications director of the Hutto Community Watch.
Jim Weaver, also a member of the Hutto Community Watch, said the no-new-revenue rate shows respect for the people of Hutto.
“It does not impose any additional burdens on them and it has allowed ample funds to accomplish our needs,” he said, referencing the 2022-23 budget which was based on a no new revenue rate.
The public can view details of the budget on the city’s website at: https://www.huttotx. gov/204/Budget Last week’s presentation was just for consideration. Aug. 17 will be the first time the council will be discussing the budget during a council meeting and will be the next opportunity for the public to speak. A special meeting will be held Aug. 24 to finalize the budget.
Some of the major elements of the proposed budget are the addition of 39 new full-time employees and 11 new seasonal employees, intensive road maintenance, new enhancements to many public services and events.
“It’s a culmination of six people dedicating pretty much an entire month of labor plus working nights and working weekends to get this together the way it is,” Earp said during the presentation. “Another thing that happens to most of us at the end of July because of all the stress and all the extra work, people fall ill. Half the finance department is out right now.”
Earp stated that some elements were pushed into future years in order to keep this proposed budget within the no-new-revenue tax guidelines. He singled out that water utility rates were kept down for fiscal year 2024 but would most likely increase thereafter.
“To secure Hutto’s water future, it will become necessary to raise water and waste water rates in the near future, either FY25 or FY26, to both secure the reservation of future water and to cover the expenses of the infrastructure capital projects expected to be near $235 million next year,” according to Earp’s executive summary.
