For next year’s budget, city property taxes will rise by about 5.2 percent thanks to higher values, but not as much as in the surrounding communities — and they will be collected at a much lower tax rate, say city leaders.
At the Aug. 10 meeting, the City Council took the first formal step in adopting the 2023-2024 budget and setting the upper limit of the tax rate at 63 cents per $100 of valuation, which is two cents lower than last year’s.
“It is a tax increase, but it is one of the lowest that is being proposed of all the communities,” said Chief Financial Officer Jeff Wood. “At $62.87, we are down there at the same level were at back in ’98 and ’99.”
Wood said all Williamson County residents are seeing property tax increases due to higher values.
“It varies from about 3 percent in Cedar Park all the way up to almost 23 percent in Pflugerville,” Wood said.
However, Wood said despite seeing growth, Taylor has the lowest taxable homestead property values in Williamson County, which is about $222,000, with the next lowest being Hutto at $311,000.
“As we have talked about, we have to have a higher tax rate because we have a lower value, and a higher rate is required on a lower value to produce the same type of dollars that these other communities produce to buy the same type of equipment or to pay for personnel,” Wood said.
The new tax rate, which is expected to bring in about $8 million in revenue for day-to-day operations and $6 million to fund debt service, includes a lower rate per $100 valuation for the city’s maintenance and operations at 36 cents, which is down from 45 cents last year, but a higher Interest & Sinking rate at nearly 27 cents, which is up by nearly 7 cents, to pay for the debt on a new City Hall and other infrastructure.
“We did two debt issues this year: One for the Donna Channel and the Texas Water Development Board that was $5 million and some change, and then the roughly $53 one for the Justice center,” Wood said.
At-large Councilman Dwayne Ariola cast the lone nay vote in a record vote to establish the upper limit of the rate at 65 cents and set the next public hearings for Aug. 23 to introduce the budget and Aug. 24 to set the tax rate.
“I guess my overall thought is once the revenues increase, that we offer the citizens a little bit more tax relief overall,” Ariola said, referring to the increase in revenue from user fees brought in due to Samsung Austin Semiconductor and other factors. “We want to say yes to everything. Every department head here has great ideas, so over the year, we have said yes over the year … but when you say yes throughout the calendar year, I would hope that when you present this there would be some no’s, so there would be more tax relief.”
But District 4 Councilman Robert Garcia offered praise to Wood for his financial stewardship of the city, pointing to Taylor’s recent upgrade from Standard & Poor Global Ratings from double A minus to double A this year, leading to an estimated $1 million in savings due to a better interest rate the city now qualifies for.
“I think you and your staff are doing a great job,” Garcia said. “We are fixing stuff, and on top of that we are lowering the tax rate, so obviously we are doing something right.”
