The City of Arlington will consider a new budget that would increase utility rates, but lower property taxes.
Rachel Royster
rroyster@star-telegram.com
The city of Arlington will consider a budget that would increase utility rates, and keep property tax and water rates unchanged.
Under the newly proposed budget, water rates would increase 6.37% or $61.20 per year and garbage rates would increase 3.5% or $8.16 per year. Stormwater fees, which generate approximately $27 million a year for the city, would remain unchanged.
The property tax rate would remain the same as last year at a rate of 62.98 cents per $100 of value.
Though the tax rate remains unchanged, the average homeowner could expect to pay around $74.17 less in property taxes because of a decline in property values. Last year, the average taxable property value was $249,956; this year it’s $238,180.
With the changes, an Arlington homeowner could expect a decrease in total costs of 40 cents per month, or $4.81 per year for city services.
Arlington City manager Trey Yelverton said increases were added only where “truly necessary.”
The budget also proposes restoring funding for animal services to be open six days a week and the public library to increase its collection by $100,000.
Investments allotted under the new budget include an additional $5.4 million for street maintenance, which is a 25% increase from this year. The total street maintenance budget for next year would be $27.1 million.
The city would also invest $1.1 million to the police department for 10 new patrol vehicles, nearly $304,000 in parks custodial and maintenance services, and $4.6 million in information technology improvements, including the first phase of replacing the 911 dispatch system.
As part of cost saving measures, the city will eliminate 22 vacant positions, mostly through convention and event services. During the past two years, the city has eliminated 64 vacant positions.
The City Council will vote on the proposed changes in September. There will be two budget town halls on Aug. 13 and 26 and a public hearing on Sept. 8.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Maven Navarro is a local news reporter at the Star-Telegram. She covers Fort Worth and Tarrant County.