Jersey Village City Council approved a tax rate increase of $0.003 compared to the previous tax year, alongside the fiscal year 2026-27 budget during the Aug. 18 regular meeting in a 4-1 vote with Council Member Brian McCauley opposed.
Latest update
Council approved a property tax rate of $0.817625 per $100 of valuation for FY 2026-27.
Finance Director Jennifer Brown said it can be difficult to get around a tax increase, as even just a cent over the no new revenue rate receives the same state required tax increase language as a higher increase.
“Considerable efforts were made to the budget to try to do our best to minimize any increase of the tax rate, but at the same time, provide the level of services that are [currently] being provided,” Council Member Simon Hughes said.
Per meeting documents, the total FY 2026-27 budget is $97.56 million, with $58.63 million in capital projects, $38.93 million in operating expenditures, and excludes inter-fund transfers.
A closer look
City Manager Austin Bleess said the projected FY 2026-27 budget will open with just under $12.6 million in fund balance and will close out the fiscal year with $4.73 million, which is above the required reserve amounts.
A $7.86 million draw down from the general fund is planned to go towards phase one of the City Campus Project, Bleess said.
Council previously discussed the possibility of sending the first phase of the project to voters through a bond, but decided to stick with reserve funds. Bleess said the fund balance has built up over the years as a facility reserve intended for construction and renovation for public facilities owned and operated by Jersey Village.
The breakdown
Since the July 21 regular meeting, Bleess said $284,000 was added to the general fund expenditures to reflect some of council’s requests from previous budget discussions including:
- $250,000 in fire department overtime
- $34,000 in salary adjustments for three positions
According to meeting documents, the city refined other areas of the budget to reduce other expenditures by $406,000. These changes include:
- $82,000 from chagrin health insurance plans
- $75,000 from moving the fire department's sewer line project to the current fiscal year
- $49,000 in staffing, salary, overtime optimizations
- $200,000 slight adjustment to various budget line items
Looking ahead
Brown said the official Harris Central Appraisal District certified property value calculations have not been released yet, but they are expecting to receive them in September.
Jersey Village City Council is slated to meet Sept. 15 for a regular meeting at 7 p.m. in the Civic Center Auditorium located at 16327 Lakeview Drive, Jersey Village.
