RELATED AUG. 5: Lubbock City Council, staff begin budget discussions<\/a><\/p>\n Exemptions factoring into revenue<\/p>\n Councilman Tim Green pointed to a significant increase in tax exemptions, approved by voters statewide in November, as proposition 9 amending the Texas Constitution<\/a>. It increased the business personal property exemption from $2,500 to $125,000.<\/p>\n The city manager\u2019s presentation last week, which included the graphic below, highlighted exemptions reduced the taxable value across the city by $29 million last fiscal year. This upcoming year those exemptions reduce taxable value by $436 million. This results in about $1.5 million less tax revenue to the city. <\/p>\n Because of these exemptions, Councilman Green said this year\u2019s no-new-revenue rate of 47.5154 cents per $100 valuation is higher than the rate adopted last year of 47.2191 cents.<\/p>\n Proposed tax bill<\/p>\n Tuesday the city manager showed if council approved the budget proposal as presented, and also approved \u201cmeet-and-confer\u201d agreements with fire and police, the average homeowner will pay $117.33 more to the city in property taxes for the year. The total would be $1,177.88.<\/p>\n The figure below shows last year\u2019s tax bill at $1,060.55, and cites the average taxable value increase of 2.14 percent. For the upcoming year, the average taxable property value is $229,418. This proposal uses a tax rate of 51.3421 cents.<\/p>\n If \u201cmeet-and-confer\u201d agreements are not approved, and members of the police and fire departments received three percent raises, the average homeowner will pay $90.75 more to the city in property taxes for the year. Under this scenario, members of the fire and police forces would receive a three-percent raise, like most other city employees in the proposed budget. <\/p>\n This is a comparison of the tax rates needed to support the base budget the city manager proposed (without any changes regarding police and fire), the budget proposed with approval of meet-and-confer, and the budget without meet-and-confer (which removes cost savings in base budget from meet-and-confer).<\/p>\n \u201cThere are a lot of other things we\u2019ll be doing as a council,\u201d Mayor McBrayer said. \u201cWe all have our homework in front of us and a month to get it done as we discuss it and move forward in this process.\u201d<\/p>\n The mayor said LP&L\u2019s budget is among the areas he will be interested in reviewing, to \u201cfind ways to help our citizens with the cost of their utilities.\u201d<\/p>\n Public hearing scheduled<\/p>\n Tuesday\u2019s maximum tax rate vote also included the scheduling of a public hearing. It will be 6 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 1 at Citizens Tower.<\/p>\n Key tax terms<\/p>\n Here are some key terms when various local governments work on setting a property tax rate.<\/p>\n No-new-revenue tax rate: This takes into consideration how much appraised values have changed, and would provide the taxing entity with roughly the same revenue from properties on the tax rolls for both years. It does not take into consideration new development or other significant changes to property.<\/p>\n If your property\u2019s appraised value change is in line with the average change across your district\/city\/county, the\u00a0no-new-revenue rate<\/a>\u00a0means your tax bill will be the same as last year.<\/p>\n Voter-approval tax rate: In most cases,\u00a0according to the Texas Comptroller\u2019s Office<\/a>, if a government adopts a rate above the voter-approval rate, it\u00a0triggers an election<\/a>\u00a0for voters to approve the tax increase.<\/p>\n A property tax rate does not continue from one year to the next. Taxing entities must set a rate every year.<\/p>\n![\"City](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786484684_578_6L3LVOHVUVAOFOUT5AYJNGULMA.png\")
City manager’s presentation Aug. 7, 2026.(City of Lubbock)<\/p>\n![\"Figure](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GQMMNCYKFBHEZKW4M42WMDCECQ.png\")
Figure from city manager’s presentation Aug. 11, 2026(City of Lubbock)<\/p>\n![\"Figure](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GFTOEE6IJZDWBPSPHIW4H4JFFQ.png\")
Figure from city manager’s presentation Aug. 11, 2026(City of Lubbock)<\/p>\n![\"Comparison](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3RW5W7ZACVCW7FKGPV3CCDZQHI.png\")
Comparison of tax rate proposals(City of Lubbock)<\/p>\n