Hutto City Council continued discussing the city's proposed $51.1 million budget in a work session Aug. 19.

The city plans to adopt a tax rate of $0.543177, unchanged from council's last meeting Aug. 5. Though the rate is lower than last year's rate of $0.60, the city expects tax revenues to increase 19.8% due to rising property values.

Still, council sought to widen the margin between revenues and expenses by searching the budget for smaller expenses that could safely be eliminated, such as vehicle allowances for city employees and longevity bonuses in departments with no employees who would qualify during the fiscal year.

“You never go wrong with being conservative," said Mayor Mike Snyder. "You can always spend money. You can’t un-spend it.”

Council did not make any formal changes to the budget during the work session, but flagged several items for review in future discussions.