Council members voted tonight to approve the city's fiscal year 2018-19 budget as well as maintain its current tax rate.

A slight adjustment to the proposed budget's utility fund was made to reflect a tax rate decrease announced by the North Texas Municipal Water District in mid-August. As a result, expenditures in the updated budget approved this evening total $282.9 million. City Manager Dan Johnson said the average Richardson taxpayer should see an annual savings of $6 due to this change.

This fiscal year's property tax rate will remain unchanged at $0.62516 per $100 valuation. The piece of that rate, which helps pay for the city's operating expenditures, totals $0.37413 per $100 valuation. The remaining portion of $0.25103 per $100 valuation is used to help pay down the city's debts.

A motion by Mayor Paul Voelker suggested the current tax rate of $0.62516 per $100 valuation be lowered by 1 penny, which would equate to roughy $1.1 million in overall savings. The change would yield an annual savings of $27 for the average taxpayer, City Manager Dan Johnson said.

"We live in a competitive economic-development environment, and I’d like to maintain our competitiveness," he said. "All these actions speak to a third stakeholder in this city: those who buy our city bonds, who trust us to be fiscally responsible."

The reduction could be achieved through transfers in and out of certain fund buckets, Voelker said. Among other reductions, Voelker suggested a decrease in funding for street and parks maintenance and a reallocation of funds toward alley maintenance.

"I’m hearing from citizens they are tired of the ever-increasing tax rate," he said. "We have had an economic upturn for well over five years, but we had an economic downturn prior to that ... I think a 1-cent reduction is a minor thing in this context."

Council Member Marta Gomez Frey argued that as construction costs continue to trend upward, the city should invest in its infrastructure today in order to stay competitive.

"What we don’t fix today gets more expensive to fix tomorrow. ... It is our responsibility to look forward and make the tough decision today to help the city grow," she said.

A tax-rate reduction of 2 cents was proposed by Council Member Mabel Simpson, who pointed to property value increases as a source of leeway in the city's tax rate.

"I do think we can tighten our belts with the tax fatigue that is going on," she said.

The city's rate is only a quarter of the total tax rate paid annually by Richardson residents; other taxing entities impose a greater burden, Council Member Steve Mitchell said.

"There is a fatigue, but the issue is not so much with the cities but with the other entities that have much larger and higher tax rates," he said.

Ultimately, the tax rate and budget were approved 5-2, with Simpson and Voelker opposed. Council Member Bob Dubey abstained on one piece of the budget—scoreboard maintenance—due to a conflict of interest.