What you need to know
The city is proposing an operating budget of roughly $195.4 million, which includes $76.3 million for the general fund, $43.3 million for the utility fund and $75.9 million for restricted funds, such as debt service and revenue for specific purposes.
This upcoming year’s budget is expected to raise more total property taxes than last year's budget by $3.3 million, or 6.14%, according to city documents.
The proposed tax rate is $0.37 per $100 valuation for FY 2023-24, a $0.02 decrease from the FY 2022-23 tax rate of $0.39. The FY 2023-24 tax rate is made up of a maintenance and operations, or M&O, rate of $0.194369 and an interest and sinking, or I&S, rate of $0.175631.
The no-new-revenue M&O rate is $0.358249 for the upcoming fiscal year. The no-new-revenue rate is the tax rate that would produce the same amount of revenue if applied to the properties that are taxed in both years.
Meanwhile, the voter-approval tax rate, or VAR, is the highest tax rate an entity can adopt without calling an election to ask voters to approve the rate. For Cedar Park, the VAR is $0.37.
Since 2016, the city of Cedar Park has kept the trend of lowering the overall tax rate, Director of Finance Kevin Klosterboer said at the Sept. 7 special called meeting.
Budget highlights
Klosterboer said the FY 2023-24 budget is “balanced” and focuses on debt management, the existing workforce, public safety and sound infrastructure.
Out of the general fund of $76.3 million, city officials plan to allocate $38.6 million to public safety enhancements.
The budget also allocates $1.4 million to the public service workforce, which includes a police training coordinator and a detective position. A total of $1.1 million will also be allocated for seven full-time positions in the civilian workforce.
Additionally, the city budgeted for capital projects, which includes $14.7 million on water, $5.4 million on transportation, $5.3 million on wastewater and $3.9 million on facilities.
“You see in this budget a lot of investment in people, more police officers, more library professionals and also a lot of investment in infrastructure,“ Mayor Jim Penniman-Morin said. “I think it’s important for us to continue preparing for the growth that we have ahead of us, and the investments in this budget reflect that.”
Next steps
Cedar Park City Council will hold a second public hearing for the proposed budget and tax rate at the Sept. 14 meeting. Council will also vote to adopt the budget and tax rate at this meeting.
For more information on Cedar Park's FY 2023-24 proposed budget and tax rate, click here.
