Pearland City Council will have a public hearing for the proposed tax rate Sept. 3. The proposed tax rate is $0.741212 per $100 valuation, which would be roughly a $0.03 increase from last year’s tax rate.

The tax rate was discussed at the Aug. 19 special meeting, and the first of two public hearings will be held Sept. 3. After the two public hearings, council will make a decision on the tax rate at a regular meeting.

The city will also have its third budget discussion Sept. 3, which will include a discussion on potentially raising the water rates. There are a couple options on how to raise the rate. One of the recommendations was to increase the base rate for water meters larger than five-eighths of an inch. This change would primarily affect business owners. However, some council members hesitated at putting the entire increase on business owners at the Aug. 19 special meeting.

“I don’t think anyone was in favor of hitting the businesses,” Council Member Gary Moore said. “Fair is fair, why are we asking the businesses to pay for this?”

According to the agenda packet for tonight’s meeting, roughly 861 residents have a meter larger than five-eighths of an inch. The city recommends making the change for residential meters after January 2020 so the city has time to let those residents know their rates may go up if they do not opt to have a smaller meter size.