The city of Southlake continues to aspire to provide residents with tax relief. While the city council passed one of the largest tax reductions in the past 25 years during its last budget cycle, the city also experienced heavy losses this year, reporting a 7% sales tax decrease and a 62% hotel occupancy decrease from last year, according to MySouthlakeNews.com.
Despite its economic losses, the city still managed to propose a half-cent debt tax decrease for the FY2021 budget, bringing the total tax rate down from $0.41 to $0.405. The city will continue to provide a 20% homestead exemption, and based on the averaged value home combined with the exemption, the tax rate equivalent is equal to $0.324 per $100 valuation.
“Understandably, very few cites are looking at a tax rate decrease, offering the maximum homestead exemption or staying below the effective rate during these unprecedented times,” Mayor Laura Hill says in a Facebook post. “Regardless of the financial impact of COVID-19, staff and council would not be deterred from our commitment to continue to lower city taxes. Commitment to fiscal responsibility really demonstrates itself during the hard times.”
According to the proposal, the $105.2-million budget focuses on capital improvement projects in the amount of $13.7 million, prioritizing projects such as drainage improvements, traffic and intersection safety initiatives and Southlake Sports Complex updates. Cash and short-term borrowing will be mainly relied on for these initiatives so the city can continue reducing its debt obligations.
“This is an important gauge of the city’s fiscal health and an important indicator that bond rating agencies review when determining the rating they will assign to city debt,” Chief Financial Officer Sharen Jackson says to the city council in MySouthlakeNews.com. “We must provide outstanding service to the community while balancing our ability to pay in the coming years.”
The council will hold its first public hearing on September 1 and vote on the proposed budget and tax rate on September 15 at the Southlake Town Hall. To review the FY2021 budget, visit CityOfSouthlake.com/FY2021.