Georgetown City Council approved the first reading of the citys $231 million budget at its Aug. 26 meeting with a 5-1 vote. Councilman John Hesser voted against the budget after a motion he made to reduce public safety funding to the 201314 fiscal year percentages failed.

The 201415 fiscal year budget, which is 1.8 percent larger than the previous years budget, includes the citys $51.9 million general fund budget. The general fund is the citys operating budget and is about 4.6 percent more than the previous year's $49.4 million budget, Chief Financial Officer Micki Rundell said. The fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

The operating budget includes 32 new positions in various departments including utilities, planning and public safety, as well as a 2 percent merit-based pay increase and 2.5 percent cost-of-living adjustment for all employees that goes into effect in February.

The push for the [cost of living adjustment] came from staff, City Manager Paul Brandenburg said, adding that he directed department directors to cut their budgets to help fund the pay increases.

Cost-of-living raises as well as increased starting pay for the police department were also funded in the budget, Rundell said.

Other public safety additions in the budget include three new officer positions to create a new five-officer crime unit as well as funding for equipment and a firefighter-based paramedic program.The $1.4 million paramedic program includes purchasing two transitional response vehicles as well as filling nine new positions.

Although Fire Chief John Sullivan said he expects the cost of the new program to be covered within three yearsthrough the collection of transport fees, some members of the public said the program would be too expensive.

This is a major change. This is a critical decision. Once implemented it will be almost irreversible, and I think it will be very costly, said Dr. Stephen Benold, former medical director for Williamson County Emergency Medical Services. I think a lot more investigation, a lot more study and a lot more discussion needs to take place. This is not urgent. We have an excellent EMS system right now.

While addressing City Council on Aug. 26 Benold also questioned the quality of the medics and if they could provide care equalto what the existing program provides.

The completion and operating costs of a new 76,000-square-foot Public Safety Operations and Training Complex, which is scheduled to open in December, is also included in the 201415 budget, Rundell said.

During the meeting, City Council also approved the first reading setting the citys property tax rate at $0.434 per $100 of property valuation. The rate, which is lower than the previous year's rate of $0.4395, is 2.49 percent higher than the effective tax ratethe rate that would raise the same amount of revenue as the previous year if no new properties were added to the tax roll.

In Georgetown, existing home values increased 7.4 percent, meaning the tax bill for a homeowner with an average taxable property value of $204,921 will pay about $50.79 more a year, Rundell said.

Since values were assessed in January 2013, the city added $163.1 million of value in new or annexed property, which increased the citys 2014 assessed valuation to nearly $5.3 billion or 11.9 percent more than the 2013 valuation, Rundell said.

The second reading of the tax rate and budget will be Sept. 9 during the regularly scheduled City Council meeting at 6 p.m. in City Council Chambers, 101 E. Seventh St.