During its regular meeting Aug. 9, League City City Council voted to postpone for two weeks a decision on a proposed ad valorem tax rate for fiscal year 2022-23.
Council Member Chad Tressler, who made the motion, said there are two more budget workshops to work out the proposed rate. The motion passed with only Council Member Larry Millican opposed.
Despite the delay, according to League City documents, the city could drop the rate by a few cents and still collect the same property tax revenue as in FY 2021-22.
The no-new-revenue property tax rate for FY 2022-23 is $0.420887 per $100 valuation. This is the rate that would bring the city the same amount of property tax revenue as FY 2021-22.
This rate is over $0.04 lower than the FY 2021-22 rate of $0.465526.
If the no-new-revenue rate is approved, the owner of a $300,000 home would pay the city $1,262.66 in property taxes in FY 2022-23. Under the FY 2021-22 rate, the amount would be $1,396.58—a difference of $133.92.
The voter-approval tax rate for FY 2022-23 is $0.657675 per $100 valuation. This is the highest tax rate that can be passed without requiring voter approval.
After City Council approves a proposed rate at its Aug. 23 meeting, a public meeting to approve the tax rate will be held at 6 p.m. Sept. 13 at Council Chambers, 200 W. Walker St., League City.
Budget details
Budget and Project Management Director Angie Steelman shared a few details about the FY 2022-23 budget during the meeting.
The FY 2021-22 budget totals $252.25 million: $165.22 million for operating costs and $87.03 million for capital projects. The FY 2022-23 proposed budget totals $317.98 million—an increase of $65.73 million, or 26.01%, according to meeting documents.
Most of the increase is due to capital projects. The operating budget for FY 2022-23 is proposed at $169.72 million—an increase of $4.5 million compared to FY 2021-22—but the capital projects budget has increased $61.22 million in FY 2021-22 to $148.25 million for FY 2022-23, according to the documents.
Steelman said important highlights from the budget include a 2% merit increase and 3% cost-of-living adjustment for staff. Additionally, the city plans to hire two paramedics, two EMTs, a parks custodian, two part-time recreation aides and an animal control community outreach coordinator, among others, Steelman said.
Finally, the city plans to buy an ambulance and a “crash truck” meant to respond to streets and traffic problems. Also included in the budget is the purchase of a sub-compact tractor with a loader for parks work, Steelman said.
City Council will approve the first reading of the budget Aug. 23 and give final approval Sept. 13.
