The Woodlands Township kicks off week of budget workshops

The Woodlands Township kicked off its weeklong budget workshops with an overview of the preliminary budget and tax rate values on Aug. 21.

What you need to know

On the first day of budget workshops, President and CEO Monique Sharp provided information to the township board of directors regarding the potential tax rate options for the township.

• Voter approval rate: $0.2070 per $100 valuation
• No-new-revenue rate: $0.1714 per $100 valuation
• Current fiscal year rate: $0.1850 per $100 valuation

The township also has $113 million in reserve funds, including roughly $31.5 in capital reserve funds that are expected to be drawn down over the next five years to fund several projects at the township level, Sharp said.

Quote of note

“We do plan to utilize this reserve heavily over the next five years as certain major projects come due for replacement or revitalization. It's not an automatic all of these get brought to the board in terms of our procurement requirements. But we do get down where we're going to decrease that reserve by $10 million over the next five years,” Sharp told the board, regarding the township's reserve funds.

What’s next

The board will reconvene at 8:30 a.m. on Aug. 22 to discuss budget priorities and discuss any potential major funding changes for FY 2023-24. The meetings will also be livestreamed online on the township website.