Editor's note: This story has been updated to include comments from Jersey Village city leaders on the fiscal year 2024-25 municipal budget shortfall.

Jersey Village City Council unanimously adopted a $0.0445 increase for the city’s fiscal year 2024-25 tax rate along with a municipal budget featuring a $4.2 million gap between general fund expenditures and projected revenue, according to Aug. 19 meeting documents.

The gist

City Council unanimously approved a FY 2024-25 total tax rate of $0.787 per $100 valuation. The city’s FY 2023-24 total tax rate was $0.7425 per $100 valuation, which is the same tax rate the city has had since 2021, as previously reported by Community Impact.

According to Aug. 19 budget documents, the city’s total tax rate is made up of:
  • $0.641018 for the maintenance and operations rate, or M&O, which pays for salaries, supplies and day-to-day operations
  • $0.145982 for the debt service rate, which pays for interest on bonds and other debt secured by property tax
“It's just not feasible to keep the same rate of upkeep that we've become accustomed to in the past decade, and so there probably will be more bonds over the next decade, and this M&O rate ... will probably increase over time, and that's just a fact of life,” council member Drew Wasson said.


Diving deeper

Jersey Village’s FY 2024-25 municipal budget—which was unanimously approved by City Council on Aug. 19—includes about $25.4 million in total general fund expenditures and about $21.2 million in total general fund revenues, according to Aug. 19 budget documents.

In an Aug. 22 email, City Manager Austin Bleess said the sale of city land on Jones Road south of Hwy. 290 will "more than offset" the FY 2024-25 general fund budget shortfall.

According to Aug. 19 meeting documents, highlights of the FY 2024-25’s general fund budget compared to the FY 2023-24 budget include:
  • $1.65 million less in total revenue year over year, including sales tax, which dropped by $850,000 and property taxes, which grew $214,787 year over year
  • $5.82 million less in total expenditures year over year
  • $128,286 more for the fire department year over year
  • $108,248 more for the police department year over year
  • $155,032 less to the streets department year over year
  • $101,685 less to the parks department
According to Aug. 19 meeting documents, highlights of the FY 2024-25’s utility fund budget include:
  • $8.1 million for utility projects, which is $881,349 less than in FY 2023-24
  • A nearly 10% increase to water and sewer rates, leaving the city’s utility fund with $613,111 more revenue compared to FY 2023-24
Also of note


FY 2023-24 is slated to end with $1.5 million less in revenue than budgeted for, according to May 15 city budget workshop presentation materials.

According to Bleess’ May 15 presentation, the revenue gap is due to:
  • Sales tax revenue being lower than the amount budgeted
  • City fines being down
  • Decreases to the Medicare cost share from the state
  • Slowing new business growth
City Council adopted its FY 2023-24 budget last August, as previously reported by Community Impact. The city budgeted for $29.65 million in expenses and $22.82 million in revenue, resulting in an estimated shortfall of around $6.83 million.