The city of Hutto ratified a no-new-revenue tax rate and passed the corresponding budget at a special meeting Sept. 12.

The decision came after motions to cut multiple budget line items over the course of the meeting.

What happened

Hutto City Council, which has been split over a proposed 12.83% property tax rate increase, approved budget cuts to get the tax rate down to $0.399553 per $100 valuation. This rate represents no-new-revenue, which produces the same amount of tax revenue as the previous year when taking into account changing property values.

Items cut or reduced in the $438 million proposed budget include community fund studies, such as those for parks and recreation, contract mowing services, financial advisory, capital outlay for the fire department and employee benefits.

What else?

Council members were divided on how to conduct budget cuts.

“I’m so against [City] Council getting down into the weeds like we’re getting right here,” Mayor Pro Tem Peter Gordon told city staff at the meeting. “At some point we have to trust you as the professionals of what you need and what you don’t need.”

Place 5 Council Member Evan Porterfield expressed that he feels a responsibility to look at every item in the budget.

“I think if you don’t get into the weeds, you’re going to lose a lot of money and you’re not going to know what happened,” he said.

The motion to amend the budget to reflect the no-new-revenue tax rate passed 4-3, with Place 1 City Council Member Brian Thompson, Place 3 member Randal Clark and Place 6 member Amberley Kolar voting against. However, the motion to adopt that budget passed unanimously.

What’s next

The tax rate and budget will go into effect Oct.1, the beginning of the new fiscal year.