Trophy Club Town Council approved a tax rate for fiscal year 2023-24 that is lower than last year’s rate Sept. 27.

The details

Council adopted the tax rate—$0.415469 per $100 valuation—for the fiscal year that started Oct. 1 and will end Sept. 30, 2024. Interim Town Manager Patrick Arata told council this new rate is lower than last year’s rate of $0.434799.

“Our values did go up, which caused this number to drop,” Arata said.

Also of note

Council also unanimously approved a motion that shows there is a 9.6% increase in the tax rate with council members Stacey Bauer, Jeff Beach, Steve Flynn, LuAnne Oldham and Dennis Sheridan voting on the measure. Mayor Jeannette Tiffany and council member Karl Monger were absent. Because property values have gone up, the town has increased tax revenue. The 9.6% increase represents the percent change in the adopted rate and the no-new-revenue tax rate, which is $0.37914 per $100 valuation, said April Duvall, director of finance for the town of Trophy Club. Broken down, the new fiscal year rate's maintenance and operations rate is $0.31567, and the debt service rate is $0.099799.

The backstory

During the public hearing, a resident asked what the major priorities were that the town has targeted for money as the budget went up 8.4% this year. Sheridan said the bulk of the money went to salaries so the town can be competitive with other cities. Money was also added to the budget so town officials can reduce the town’s fund balance, Arata said.

The adopted budget, which council approved earlier in September, is $29.3 million across all funds, with the general fund operating budget set at $14.3 million.