Now, it is likely the FY 2020-21 property tax rate will be even lower.
League City City Council on Aug. 11 approved a proposed property tax rate of $0.515 per $100 valuation as a starting point in determining the final property tax rate, which will be determined by vote at the council's Sept. 8 meeting.
The $0.535 rate was based on an estimated taxable value of $9.1 billion across the city. However, the city has since determined the city's taxable value is closer to $9.72 billion, which decreases how much each resident would need to be taxed to maintain existing revenue levels, according to a memo from Budget and Project Management Director Angie Steelman.
Based on the FY 2020-21 budget, if the city wanted to pass a tax rate that would result in no new revenue, the rate would be $0.515708, which is slightly higher than the proposed rate. Because the proposed rate is lower than the $0.515708 no-new-revenue rate, a public hearing regarding the rate is not required.
Based on state law, the council can set a property tax rate up to $0.528398 per $100 valuation. If the council wishes to approve a rate higher than that, voters would have to approve the rate in an election for it to take effect, according to the memo.
Unless the council wishes to take the FY 2020-21 property tax rate to the voters, it will end up lower than the $0.535 per $100 valuation rate originally proposed in the budget.
The FY 2020-21 budget totals $239.56 million—$144.25 million for operating expenses and $95.31 million for capital projects. This is over $20 million less than the FY 2019-20 budget of $260.5 million, which includes $145.48 million for operations and $115.02 million for capital projects.
