No objections were made to maintaining Cedar Park's property tax rate during the first of three budget hearings held Aug. 23 by City Council.

City officials proposed keeping the Cedar Park tax rate at $0.493501—the same rate the council adopted last fiscal year—because of higher-than-anticipated home values and sales tax returns, Assistant City Manager Josh Selleck said.

"This year's budget is built around a recurring theme of the past few years," Selleck said. "We did a great job as a city and an organization of adapting to a new normal."

Selleck credited the city's economic development initiatives for the increased sales tax collections, which were 8.2 percent higher than the city projected to receive last fiscal year. There was also a 1.4 percent increase in home values, thus increasing the total amount of money the city expects to collect in property taxes.

The total 2012-13 general fund is set at $33.6 million, Selleck said, up from $31.1 million last fiscal year.

Cedar Park City Council will hold a final public hearing Sept. 6 before potentially approving the next fiscal year budget Sept. 13.