There are many ways at looking at city finances and tax increases and how much property tax is in masked money or in real money. The truth of the matter here is that, in real money, Kyle property taxes are going to catapult 26.2 percent higher than last year, although 15.6 percent of that increase will be because voters approved a $13 million road bond package two years ago, so expect to pay an extra 7.6 cents per $100 property valuation every year for the next 20 years to pay for those five road improvements.
Here’s how to look at the budget in terms of real money, i.e., the actual dollars and cents coming out of the bank accounts of Kyle property owners. If you wanted the city to provide exactly the same service in the upcoming fiscal year as they are doing in this one, the property tax rate would be, according to figures presented to the city council this morning by Finance Director Perwez A. Moheet, 48.71 cents per $100 valuation. That’s lower than the current 53.83 cents rate because the city’s income will increase this year through additional sales tax revenues and higher property valuations. Moheet also said that it will cost taxpayers 7.63 cents per $100 valuation per year over the next 20 years to pay for the 2013 road bond package. However, the estimated property tax rate for this year is going to be very close to 61.46 cents which, of course, is 5.12 cents more than what the same level of service plus the road bonds would cost.
Not that the 5.12 cents isn’t justified. Given the level of service the city provides, it desperately needs to improve its game, although I still wish the proposed new city charter had provided for an internal auditor to monitor the city’s service efficiencies. To me, 61.46 cents seems a high price tag for the level of service residents receive but that also could be because the ratio of individually owned property to commercial property is at an obscene level in Kyle: 85 to 15, according to a survey conducted by Community Impact. (That ratio in Buda is 72 to 28 and its property tax is 29.78 cents per $100 valuation. In San Marcos, it’s a 53-47 percent ratio with a property tax of 53.02 cents.)
So what is that 5.12 cents per $100 valuation extra in Kyle going to be used for?. Well, for starters, about 21.5 FTEs will be added to the city’s payroll, including four new police officers. FTE stands for Full Time Equivalent, but does not necessarily translate into the number of people hired. For example, two part-time workers equals one full-time and City Manager Scott Sellers’s proposed budget adds about 10 part-time employees and converts one parks administrative assistant from a part-time position to a full-time position. In addition, an FTE is a position, not a person. In other words, the city may create a position (an FTE) and fund it, but not hire anyone to fill that position.
But enough of that confusion. Sellers’s original proposal called for 22.5 FTEs, but one of those positions, a division manager of street maintenance paying $85,235 per annum, was axed in a motion by council member Daphne Tenorio, seconded by Damon Fogley and approved unanimously by the council to pay for much needed protective equipment, chiefly breathing apparatus, for firefighters and a laptop for the new code enforcement officers. At the urging of Mayor Todd Webster, $100,000 was added to the budget to give the iconic downtown water tower a fresh coat of paint and, as recommended by council member Becky Selberra, $15,000 was added for a "Rail Crossing Quiet Zone Assessment Study." That money was deducted from $1,529,049 in seed money to start a fund that would keep up with equipment, fleet and facility replacement and repair.
All seven city council members voted in favor of considering the 61.46 cent tax rate at its Wednesday, Aug. 19, special called meeting, which, technically, is not exactly the same thing as approving that rate. However, I’m thinking it’s just a formality. It may be that when the rubber meets the need-to-be-reconstructed road, a few council members, especially those up for re-election next year, may not want to be on record as voting for a hefty tax increase when the matter is considered Aug. 19,but the wheels on which that rubber is fitted will have been greased enough so that it will pass.
After the meeting was over, I asked four council members — Mayor Pro Tem David Wilson, Shane Arabie, Diane Hervol and Tenorio (I wanted to ask Mayor Webster, but he refuses, albeit somewhat politely, to talk with me about anything) — whether they would ever consider instituting a stormwater fee that might help replace some property taxes as an income source. Now, I realize, a fee is actually a tax hiding under a different name, but a stormwater fee is usually assessed in proportion to the amount of impervious surface on a particular piece of property. In a home, that might be a driveway and a patio, but for an H-E-B or a Wal-Mart we're talking about a gigantic, honkin’ parking lot so those fees fall more heavily on the commercial property owners and help relieve some of the burden being borne in Kyle by homeowners.
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