Property tax rate to be reduced one cent

It’s official. The property tax rate ordinance that has been prepared for first reading at Wednesday’s city council meeting calls for a tax rate of $.5748 per $100 valuation for Fiscal Year 2016-17, a one-cent reduction from the current rate.

Nominally, that means the owner of a home with an appraised value of $180,000 would pay $18 less in city property taxes this year than last, but because of rising appraised values, most homeowners will still see another increase in their property tax bills.

Those increased valuations are reflected in the fact that the $.5748 proposed rate is 5.59 percent higher than the effective rate, which is the tax-rate level that would garner the same amount of property tax funds as were collected during this budget cycle. In fact, according to the wording in the ordinance, even with the one-cent reduction, a homeowner with property valued at $100,000 will pay $30.41 more in municipal property taxes under the current tax rate.

Of the $.5748, $.2395 will go to fund actual city operations (which is $.0089 more than last year) and the remaining $.3353 will be used to pay off the city’s $95.4 million debt. That shift was made possible because of some nifty bond refinancing during this current fiscal year.

The council is also expected to approve on first reading a FY 2015-16 budget calling for expenditures of $80,386,616 during the course of the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

The second reading on both ordinances (the official adoption of the budget and the tax rate)is scheduled to take place during the council's Sept. 6 meeting.

No public hearings are scheduled in connection with either proposed ordinance — public hearings were scheduled on these subjects for Aug, 17 and last Wednesday and, interestingly, no citizen came to speak at them. The regular citizens comments period does precede the actual agenda, however.

There is a public hearing scheduled "to discuss the current plans to file an application for grant funds" under the Texas Capital Fund Program. This fund "Supports rural business development, retention and expansion by providing funds for public infrastructure, real estate development, or the elimination of deteriorated conditions," according to the fund’s website.

An item I believe would be of particular interest for Kyle is the fact that the fund provides matching grants of between $50,000 and $150,000 under an umbrella called "Downtown Revitalization and Main Street Programs." It also awards grants of between $50,000 and $1.5 million "for infrastructure development to create or retain permanent jobs in primarily rural communities and counties."

A complete copy of Wednesday’s agenda is available here.