City Manager David Morgan presented the budget total to be $722 million with almost half, 43.61%, or $314 million, anchored to development services, communications and public engagement.
This is a $239 million increase from last year's budget.
Morgan said $374 million will go toward capital projects, $61.9 million for electric purchased power, $67.5 million for water operations, $71.3 million for debt services and $51.4 million for public safety.
The general fund is proposed to sit at $108.7 million with 25.99% or $28 million allotted for fire services, 20.36% or $22 million for police, and 16.25% or $17 million for public works.
The overall goal of the budget is to maintain city services in response to high residential and commercial growth, the demand of city services, inflation costs and supply demands, Morgan said.
According to Morgan’s presentation, the budget addresses these priorities through utility and infrastructure development, public safety improvements, long-range planning initiatives and sustaining city service levels.
Morgan also discussed that Georgetown’s property value increased by 35%, including the addition of $985 million in new properties.
City documents show the proposed property tax rate for FY 2022-23 is $0.374 per $100 valuation, which is $0.027 lower than the FY 2021-22 rate of $0.401.
The no-new-revenue rate adjusted for sales tax is $0.320961, which represents the rate that would be needed to produce the same revenue as the previous year, according to staff.
Other highlights in the proposed budget include the following:
- 79.5 new full-time positions, including 21 new water utility employees and nine police staff
- increase of average merit pay to 5% average
- increase in homestead exemption from $3,000 to $5,000, approved by council earlier this year. Read more here.
Before approving the budget and tax rate Sept. 13, City Council has asked residents for their feedback. The proposed budget and comment submission form can be found at https://finance.georgetown.org/.
