Georgetown preliminarily approves maximum tax rate of $0.401

Georgetown City Council gave preliminary approval of a maximum tax rate of $0.401 per $100 property value, a decrease of $0.017 from the current tax rate of $0.418.

Despite the decreased rate, the average homeowner, based on a home value of $303,255, would pay $56 more in property taxes per year in fiscal year 2021-22 than in FY 2020-21.

The proposed tax rate is slightly lower than the voter-approval rate of $0.401237, which is the maximum rate allowed per law without voter approval, according to the state comptroller's office. The city's no-new-revenue rate, which would produce the same amount of tax revenue if applied, would be $0.330775, according to the city.

Council was also presented with a final proposed budget of $483 million for FY 2021-22, which features 53 new positions, funding for wastewater infrastructure and capital improvement projects.

The proposed general fund consists of $23.9 million from sales tax revenue, a 4.5% increase from FY 2020-21 projections, totaling $90.8 million, a 3.4% increase from FY 2020-21 projections.

The total proposed budget increased by 21.96% compared to FY 2020-21.

Major expenses in the budget include $114.7 million in planned capital improvement projects, $38.2 million in transportation, $49.8 million in a water and wastewater treatment capacity and distribution system, and $54.4 million in electric purchased power expenses.

Council will hold public hearings Sept. 14 on the first reading of both the tax rate and budget and formally adopt the tax rate and budget Sept. 28.

Editor's note: This post was updated to provide additional information about the tax rate.