State forces council to lie about tax rate

The current city property tax rate is $.5848 per $100 of taxable property. Assuming the city council on Tuesday passes on second reading the ordinance fixing "the ad valorem tax rate" (which, most assuredly, it will do) for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, that tax rate will be $.5748. It doesn’t take an Einstein to realize the new tax rate will be one cent lower than the current one.

And yet, the state requires the reading of a statement that claims the tax rate is being increased. And that is just flat wrong. That is a lie. It is not being increased.

What the state is requiring the person who moves for the adoption of the reduced tax rate to say is "I move the property tax rate be increased by the adoption of a tax rate of $0.5748, which is effectively a 5.59 percent increase in the tax rate."

It’s that word "effectively" that screws everything up. What is meant by that is that, even by lowering the tax rate by a penny, because of increased property valuations, that lower tax rate will produce 5.59 percent more income during the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 than the higher rate produced this year.

It is also misleading and technically incorrect because, while most property owners will face a higher tax bill next year than this, not all of them will be 5.59 percent higher. In fact, I’m betting the increase in the tax bills of most homeowners will be smaller than that since that 5.59 percent figure includes all commercial property as well as residential.

So for those who decide to attend next Tuesday’s City Council meeting or for those who just watch it at home on their computers (Does anyone really do that?), when you hear the words "I move the property tax rate be increased...," just remember, that person is lying. The rate is being decreased, not increased.

But the great State of Texas is forcing that person to lie.

Go figure.