Arlington\u2019s next property tax rate is still unclear, but city council members limited how high it could go.<\/p>\n
With a 6-3 vote Tuesday, council members approved a tax rate ceiling of 63 cents per $100 valuation. The ceiling is at the no-new-revenue rate, which means the city would bring in the same amount of revenue from property taxes as last year.<\/p>\n
Council members Bowie Hogg, Long Pham and Raul Gonzalez voted against the ceiling, signaling support for keeping last year\u2019s tax rate of roughly 62 cents per $100 valuation.<\/p>\n
City Manager Trey Yelverton reiterated his belief that Tarrant Appraisal District\u2019s property value freeze and consequently lower taxable home values are forcing Arlington\u2019s hand on whether to hike the tax rate to increase services.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe rubber meets the road in all of those investments,\u201d Yelverton told the council, referring to investments that could be made with a higher tax rate. \u201cThose decisions (about whether to make further investments in city services) are not being necessarily made here, but they\u2019re forcing you to make that decision by making this rate adjustment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The proposed Arlington budget is balanced, with a roughly $3 million surplus to go into its reserve funds. The budget was based on maintaining the same tax rate.<\/p>\n
Council members were required to determine the tax rate ceiling this week. Texas law requires taxing governmental entities to publish their proposed tax rate at least five days before the first public hearing. From there, council members can decide to lower the tax rate from its initial proposal but cannot raise it once the hearing is set.<\/p>\n
Budget townhalls<\/p>\n
The city of Arlington will host two budget town halls leading up to its adoption in September:<\/p>\n
6 p.m. Aug. 13 at Dr. Theron L. Bowman Police South District Service Center, 1030 SW Green Oaks Blvd.\u00a0
\n6 p.m. Aug. 26 at Arlington City Council Chamber, City Hall, 101 W. Abram St.<\/p>\n
Officials previously said the taxable value in the city dropped by 1.23% over the past year, the second-largest dip in value this century.\u00a0<\/p>\n
If the council maintains last year\u2019s tax rate, the average homeowner would pay $1,500 in city of Arlington property taxes. The average taxable home value is $238,180.<\/p>\n
Raising the tax rate to roughly 63 cents would mean that the average homeowner\u2019s tax bill would increase $16.<\/p>\n
The current tax rate was instituted as city officials last year fought a $25 million budget shortfall. Pham said roughly $18.7 million of that shortfall came after the Tarrant Appraisal District voted to freeze property valuations<\/a> across the county.<\/p>\n After cutting open positions and scaling back operating hours at services such as the animal shelter, the shortfall shrank to around $11 million before raising the tax rate by 3 cents.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had no choice but to either increase the property tax or to cut extremely critical services for our community,\u201d Mayor Jim Ross said.<\/p>\n Much of this year\u2019s tax rate debate has focused on how changes could impact future budgets.<\/p>\n The proposed budget features a few projects that were cut last year, such as animal shelter hours and the annual employee picnic. But roughly $15 million worth of projects were left out, Yelverton said.<\/p>\n The no-new-revenue rate would net the city an extra roughly $2.2 million more than what is proposed in the upcoming budget, Yelverton said.<\/p>\n Ross said he\u2019s hesitant to include future projects with recurring costs into the budget because of the uncertainty around future property tax revenue.<\/p>\n He added that convincing him to adopt anything above last year\u2019s tax rate would be difficult, since he doesn\u2019t know what changes the Texas Legislature could make to tax exemptions or the future of Tarrant Appraisal District policy.<\/p>\n Gonzalez agreed with Ross, saying he was glad city officials took proactive steps to balance last year\u2019s budget and avoided situations like the staff hiring freeze<\/a> in Fort Worth and staff furlough<\/a> in Dallas.<\/p>\n \u201cI think we really need to be a little more hesitant this year, because, like the mayor said, who knows what\u2019s going to happen?\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n Council member Brittney Garcia-Dumas said she wants to hear residents\u2019 thoughts on the tax rate at the upcoming budget town halls. She also signaled support for reconsidering projects that were tabled, such as enhanced homelessness services and transportation funding.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, the reason I want to set that ceiling there is to ask the residents, give them the opportunity to see what they say, and if they come back and say, \u2018We hate it,\u2019 then cool, we have the current proposed tax rate, and we go from there,\u201d Garcia-Dumas said.<\/p>\n Council member Tom Ware said adopting the current rate for next year could send an adverse message to the Tarrant Appraisal District.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we say, \u2018OK, we can do what we want to do with the same amount of money as last year, or with less money than last year,\u2019 then we are patting them on the back almost and saying, \u2018You\u2019re right. We had too much,\u2019\u201d Ware said. \u201cLord knows we cut a bunch last year and didn\u2019t scream enough. So I think we have to at least go to the no-new-revenue rate.\u201d<\/p>\n Chris Moss is a reporter for the Arlington Report. Contact him at chris.moss@arlingtonreport.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n