Grapevine City Council held its second and final public hearing for the city's new proposed tax rate and fiscal year 2019-20 budget Sept. 3. The first public hearing for the proposed tax rate and budget was held Aug. 20. At both that meeting and the Sept. 3 public hearing, no one approached the council to speak. "When I put this together, I tried to be mindful of the property taxes because property taxes are complicated," Grapevine's Chief Financial Officer Greg Jordan said. "This is a half-cent tax rate reduction." At $0.284271 per $100 valuation, the proposed tax rate is lower than the current tax rate of $0.289271 per $100. However, it is still more than the effective tax rate, which is a rate that would generate the same amount of taxes if applied to the same properties taxed in both years, according to the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The effective tax rate for the city is $0.272399 per $100. The council also held a public hearing for a proposed FY 2019-20 operating budget of $179 million, a 4% increase over the current fiscal year. Most of the bump is due to a 3% pay raise for all employees, an additional 2% merit-based pay raise and budget step increases for police and fire personnel. The city is expecting the same amount in revenue as it is in expenses. The city plans to adopt its budget and tax rate Sept. 17.