Here is a recap of what was featured in the Wednesday, Aug. 14, e-edition of the Taylor Press. The e-edition is emailed to subscribers and available at www. taylorpress.net.
DUCK DAY MAKES A SPLASH
The Taylor Independent School District got folks fired up about the new school year during Duck Day Aug. 10.
The band, cheerleaders, Hi-Steppers, color guard, high school fall athletic programs and more were introduced to the community at the Duck Pond. The 2024-25 academic calendar started Aug. 14, and Taylor ISD officials said they were ready, including hiring 46 new teachers and other instructional staff.
STREETS RANKED FAIR TO GOOD, MORE WORK NEEDED
A recent survey of Taylor’s streets showed a decrease in the number of failing roads, and City Council recently gave approval for improving more through the Leveling Up program.
“We have 57 percent of our streets in fair, satisfactory or good ranking. That’s a lot better than we had four years ago. We want to continue that trend in minimizing the failed, serious or very poor,” Jacob Walker of HDR Engineering told the council Aug. 8.
Walker was discussing the results of a survey conducted by Applied Research Associates. The previous study was done in 20192020 and only measured the cracks in the pavement. For this goround, the engineer said they considered not just the pavement condition but also the ride quality of the roads.
A comparison of 2020 versus 2024 shows a reduction in the amount of failed and serious streets and an increase in satisfactory and good streets, the council was told.
Earlier this year, the Public Works Department began a program of “leveling up” the city’s worst neighborhood streets.
Leveling up is used for streets rated as failed or very poor which are not main arterial roads.
BUDGET MEETING STYMIED BY TAX DEBATE
HUTTO – City Council sent staff back to the drawing board last week after a special- called meeting to discuss the budget did not go as planned.
Mayor Mike Snyder and councilmen Dan Thornton and Evan Porterfield came prepared with a statement promising they would not vote to increase property taxes. The mayor read the statement aloud after the public comment section of the meeting but before any discussion of the budget by the city.
The Texas Property Code requires a 60-percent majority vote for a city to raise its tax rate.
In Hutto, five out of the seven council members need to vote in favor of a tax increase for the measure to pass.
With three members affirming they would not approve a hike, city staffers will need to rework the budget proposal to reflect a lower rate from taxpayers.
By law, a city’s budget must be in place by Oct. 1.
The mayor’s move to quash the tax increase apparently surprised some council members and city staff who attended earlier budget planning sessions, but it was welcomed by several residents who spoke out at the beginning of the council meeting.
The meeting adjourned with no action.
TAX RATE DOWN, TAX BILL UP
An initial budget presentation, which includes a tax rate that raises the amount property owners will owe, was discussed at the Taylor City Council Aug.
8.
More meetings and public hearings are planned before the budget is locked into place Oct. 1, officials said.
The proposed 59-cent rate is the highest the city could charge without requiring voter approval. It is lower than the Fiscal Year 2024 rate of 62.8774 cents per $100 of property value, but due to a rise in appraised values, it means most owners will be paying more on their tax bill, according to officials.
To avoid that increase, the city would need to adopt the nonew- revenue rate of 55.5974 cents.
While the amount of money the city is collecting increases every year, the amount being used for maintenance and operations of the town has been decreasing. It went from $8.86 million in FY 2023 to $7.94 million in FY 2024 to $7.85 million proposed in FY 2025.
Meanwhile, the amount it costs the city to pay down debt is increasing. Interest and sinking, the portion of taxes spent on debt servicing, has risen from $3.86 million in FY 2023 to $8.21 million in FY 2025.
Meanwhile the city is looking to issue more debt in 2025 to help pay for $253 million in anticipated capital improvement projects.
A public hearing on the budget is 6 p.m.
Aug. 22 in the Council Chambers, 400 Porter St. During the session, the maximum tax rate will be set.
Elected leaders will vote to make changes or adopt the budget as-is at their Sept. 12 gathering, following another public hearing.
