| Item Title: | Budget and Fiscal Policy - Adopt the 2018 Property Tax Rate |
| Submitted By: | Wallace Hardgrove, Executive Director, Budget and Fiscal Policy Department (915) 546-2262 |
| Subject: | Pursuant to the Property Tax Code, §26.05(a), adopt a tax rate for the County of El Paso. |
| Background: | Discussions and preliminary direction given during the FY2019 budget hearings was to plan on a budget which utilizes the revenue resulting from the new effective tax rate. The effective tax rate as calculated by the Tax Assessor Collector is $0.447819 per $100 taxable property value and is composed of a Maintenance and Operations Tax Rate of $0.405971 and an Interest and Sinking Tax Rate of $0.041848 per $100 taxable property value. The tax rate originally proposed by the Court was the Rollback Tax Rate of $0.478943 per $100 taxable property value and is composed of a Maintenance and Operations Tax Rate of $0.437095 and an Interest and Sinking Tax Rate of $0.041848 per $100 taxable property value.
In accordance with current Financial Policies, the Court proposed the calculated Rollback Tax Rate for its planning of the required public hearings which were held on August 14th and 17th. Budgeted proposed appropriations are currently growing by $25 million or 7.64% and are outpacing the estimated revenue growth of $13.95 million or 5.31%. |
| Fiscal Impact: | This effective tax rate will levy approximately $187.23 million in tax revenues for tax year 2018 which will be utilized to cover day to day operations and service the debt for the County during FY2019. This tax rate will generate an additional $8.4 million over last year’s budget. If the County were to consider maintaining the current tax rate of $0.452694, this could result in an additional $2 million above the effective tax rate, a levy of $189.27 million. |
| Recommendation: | The recommendation is for Commissioners Court to consider adopting the current tax rate for the County of El Paso of $0.452694 per $100 taxable property value, in an effort to better align ongoing revenues with ongoing appropriations. The current Tax Rate is composed of a Maintenance and Operations Tax Rate of $0.410846 and an Interest and Sinking Tax Rate of $0.041848. |
| Prior Action: | N/A |
| Strategic Plan: | .. |
| Strategic Plan Information: | |