City officials are anticipating an increase in revenues of almost $672,000 compared to what was budgeted last year, according to the city’s budget documents.
One of the keys to these revenue figures is an anticipated increase in parks and recreation revenue of nearly $173,000 compared to the FY 2020-21 budget. In its FY 2020-21 budget, the city faced $575,000 in losses from recreation-related revenue due to coronavirus-related closures.
In addition, the city anticipates an almost $161,000 increase in public works revenue due to increased activity and proposed fee increases, according to budget documents.
The city’s tax revenue, meanwhile, is expected to increase by a total of about $609,000 over what was budgeted a year ago. Property tax revenue, which makes up the vast majority of the city’s tax revenue, is anticipated to increase by about $600,000 in the next fiscal year.
In total, the estimated taxable value for the city of West University Place for the next tax year is estimated at about $7 billion, which is a 3.6% increase over the 2020 certified values, according to the Harris County Appraisal District.
The council unanimously approved the city’s tax rate of $0.278522 per $100 of assessed value, a little over $0.015 less than last year’s tax rate of $0.294066 per $100 of assessed value. Making up that tax rate is $0.193797 per $100 of valuation to pay for the city’s maintenance and operations and $0.084725 per $100 of valuation to pay for the city’s debt.
The council made no specific comment on the budget during its Sept. 27 meeting outside of voting on the item. According to Katherine DuBose, West University Place finance director, the council had already discussed the budget in lengthy detail during a workshop Sept. 11 and during a public hearing Sept. 20.
