San Marcos City Council Discusses Preliminary FY 2019 Budget, Approves Proposed Tax Rate
The certified tax rolls were received on July 25 and were lower than what had been expected. The total preliminary appraised value was $5.094 billion…
By, Terra Rivers, Managing Editor
On Thursday, August 3, the San Marcos City Council held a budget workshop to consider and discuss two items regarding the 2018-2019 budget.
The meeting opened with staff giving council members a presentation of the preliminary fiscal year 2018-2019 budget.
During the presentation, staff members gave city council members addressed changes from the preliminary tax rolls that that had received from the Hays County.
The certified tax rolls were received on July 25 and were lower than what had been expected. The total preliminary appraised value was $5.094 billion and the certified appraised value was $5.062 billion.
According to staff, the preliminary tax rolls were conservative, but the city saw a $32 million difference between the estimated and actual appraised values.
The drop was due to a business submitting a “Freeport” exemption for their inventory after the preliminary tax rolls were given to the city.
The exemption took about $200,000 off tax rolls which is a $32,000,000 million difference from estimation to actual.
According to staff, the community enhancement fee generated $1.1 million in revenue in 2016 and 2017; revenue for 2018 is projected to be the same.
The community enhancement fee was established to enhance the cleanliness and beautification of San Marcos by providing services such as litter control and nuisances abatement.
These services include but are not limited to litter and nuisance abatement, street cleaning, mowing and landscape, dead animal removal and building improvement grant programs.
- Community Enhancement Fee current is: $1.00 will go up to $1.50 per month
- Water/Wastewater $3.30 per month
- Stormwater Management: $1.58 per month
- Resource Recovery: $.81 per month
The total monthly impact on the average citizen will be $6.19 per month.
During the budget presentation, staff included a recommendation to add eight additional firefighters and two fire inspectors. The new positions would provide the city with a sixth unit to respond to emergencies.
Currently, the city of San Marcos has one fire marshal and two fire inspectors. The proposed addition of two inspectors will allow hotels and multifamily establishments to be inspected more frequently.
According to staff’s recommendation, the cost of the additional fire personnel will require a $957,000 increase to the budget. Staff suggested the funds be used from the “public safety” bond that was approved by voters last year.
The tax rate increase that was approved last budget year includes debt service and staffing and operational expenses from the May 2017 bonds, which will give the city an additional $1 million to cover operation costs.
City staff has been looking into options for gaining additional office space for city hall. During the budget workshop, staff recommended council look at leasing temporary office space for 48 months for a total of $162,000, which includes furnishings, technology and set up.
However, Council Member Scott Gregson noted that the city was likely to need or use the building for as many as 72 months.
Council agreed to look at purchasing the building for office spaces. Staff said the city would be looking at $228,000 to purchase the property.
According to staff, the fiscal year 2018 HOT (Hotel Motel Tax) revenue is trending below budget and prior year’s collections. Due to the current trend, staff is commending a 15.5 percent budget reduction for the programs.
To close the meeting, Council members considered the approval of “a proposal to set the 2018 tax rate at a maximum of 61.39 cents per $100 valuation.” The proposed tax rate is the same as last year’s (2017).
The tax rate for 2018 was previously set at 58.99 cents per $100 valuation; the rollback rate for the 2018 tax year was 65.96 per $100 valuation. The proposed tax rate passed with a 7-0 vote.
