Tax hike eyed for now, but three council members are opposed
HUTTO – The city is looking at a potential 15% tax increase for the next fiscal year, but that figure could change as budget talks move forward.
During a Thursday meeting, the City Council approved an initial tax rate of 45.9347 cents per $100 of property value, a 14.965 percent increase over the current rate of 42.2114 cents.
The council will now work to make budget amendments to lower that rate, officials said. Lowering it enough to pass the final vote could be an uphill climb, as three members of council are resolutely against anything over than the no-new-revenue rate of 39.9553 cents.
“A large number of people who own their home in Hutto and who bought it in 2020 or earlier are looking at a 20 percent increase in taxes at the rate proposed tonight,” said Councilman Dan Thornton, adding the NNR rate would also be an increase in the tax burden on those people, though a smaller one.
He added, “It’s a level tax burden over a pool of taxpayers, but that’s all we can control. And that’s what I’m seeking to do is control that the best we can. I don’t want to make it worse than it has to be.”
Mayor Mike Snyder and the council spent five hours of a seven-hour-long meeting Thursday discussing the tax rate, hearing about the budget increases for Fiscal Year 2024-2025 and rehashing old grievances from the previous year’s budget proceedings.
The discussion was a week overdue, after a previous meeting did not go according to plan.
At the Aug. 8 special-called session, Snyder and council members Dan Thornton and Evan Porterfield pledged not to vote for any tax rate higher than the NNR.
That move effectively halted all discussion of the budget.
While Snyder was prepared with what he said were 14 pages of notes where the budget could be cut, others questioned whether City Manager James Earp could quickly come up with a new one based on the income from the no-new-revenue rate.
Mayor Pro Tem Peter Gordon suggested tabling the discussion until the Thursday meeting to give Earp time to come up with a budget that would be based on the NNR rate.
At the Thursday meeting, Earp presented the same budget as before, based on the highest-possible tax increase that doesn’t call for voter approval.
Calling out mayor, two others
Council members Gordon, Amberley Kolar, Randal Clark and Brian Thompson chastised the mayor and the other two councilmen for their declaration the previous week, saying they had stopped the democratic process.
“Three council members were at the table dictating the future of Hutto. This agenda item allows seven elected members of City Council to have a seat at that table,” Kolar said. She explained that traditionally council sets the rate as high as possible on the first vote, because the rate can be lowered before the final vote but it cannot go higher than the initial setting.
“Right now we’re at the beginning phases of discussing the budget ... and I do respect their pledge to the NNR tax rate but it brought a halt to the conversation before it even started,” Kolar said. “With seven members I am looking forward to working with all of you to cut things in the budget so that we can decrease that rate.”
Thompson said he understood the reasoning behind the NNR pledge, but didn’t appreciate the approach the trio of dissenters took.
“As an elected body, it’s our responsibility to work together in the spirit of collaboration to improve our city. We all won elections in one way or another by the votes of people who cared enough to make their voices heard. The people who voted for you three are not the only ones who should be represented in the discussion of their city’s future. 743 Hutto residents voted for me to represent them,” Thompson said. “It’s disturbing that before I shared my thoughts or recommendations on this year’s proposed budget, you told me that my thoughts or recommendations don’t matter.”
Budget nitty gritty
The budget proposal for FY25 shows a total revenue of $167,586,675, a 26.5 percent increase from FY24. Total expenditures rose 17.9 percent to $165,811,367. The total amount of revenue increase coming directly from property taxes is $23.7 million, a 30.5% jump.
One of the biggest divides in the budget issue is whether the public is willing to pay higher taxes. Residents spoke out on both sides of the issue during the public-comment session of Thursday’s meeting.
Some council members say their constituents are pressuring them for more services and are amenable to higher taxes. Other council members say they are overwhelmingly told taxes are an untenable burden that is forcing longtime residents out of town.
“The people have spoken. They want us to earn our paychecks, and they want us to do it and maintain the tax rate they have,” Snyder said. “Instead of focusing all your energy on how to raise taxes, you really ought to focus your time and energy on where can we work together to lower the cost of services to the people, where can we lower taxes, what can we do without, what do we need?”
Gordon disagreed. “This narrative that everyone wants no-new-revenue and everyone is just absolutely going to be moving out of Hutto because of the tax rate is a false narrative. It’s just not true,” he said.
City department heads participating in Earp’s presentation to the council presented their new budgets and pointed out what they called value-added additions to the services they are hoping to provide with a larger influx of money.
“It’s not a time to get frivolous, it’s not a time to work backwards. It’s a time to work forwards and we have to work within our means,” Porterfield said. “It’s a lot of money to the people we represent who are already short on funds and I’m just not going to take it from them.”
The discussion continues. The council will hold a budget work session 6 p.m. Aug. 22 and public hearings 7 p.m. on Sept. 5 and Sept. 12.
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A large number … are looking at a 20 percent increase in taxes.”
-Councilman Dan Thornton
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Three council members were … dictating the future.”
-Councilwoman Amberley Kolar
