CITY OF BRENHAM UNVEILS PROPOSED BUDGET FOR NEW FISCAL YEAR
The City of Brenham has finalized its budget work sessions, and has released its proposed budget for review.
The roughly $75 million budget for the new fiscal year is still in the preliminary stages, with the final review by city council and record vote on August 1st.
City Manager James Fisher said the city is “at a pivotal time with growth and development”. He said city leadership needed to “think outside the box” in this planning process if they wanted to give Brenham citizens the best quality of life possible.
Fisher said several key aspects were taken into consideration when planning the budget, including the continued growth in property taxes, which are the source for the city’s General Fund. With the growth, the city is proposing a lower tax rate of $0.514 per $100 valuation, compared to the past $0.517 per $100 valuation.
Fisher said the city is also setting the stage for “vigorous sales tax growth”. As the sales tax growth is realized, the city could become less reliant on property taxes, therefore leading to an eventual decrease in property tax rates for citizens.
One proposed change would call for the addition of a sales tax to residential electric and gas customers. Currently, the city only charges electric and gas sales tax to commercial customers. Brenham is one of 72 cities statewide with municipal-owned utilities.
The city is also proposing a “modest rate change” to cover the cost of electric and water services, as well as investment in infrastructure to maintain systems reliability. Fisher noted the city’s water rates have remained the same since 2008, and residential and commercial electric rates since 2003. Small and large industrial electric rates had an increase in 2014.
In addition, the city is proposing the addition of a drainage fee to address current and future drainage improvements, to protect residential and commercial properties from potential flooding events. Fisher said research indicated many cities have successfully used this fee structure, which can only be used for drainage projects and not diverted for any other purpose.
Fisher said the growth and development diversity of the city may mean approximately $16 more per month for the average homeowner. He said these proposed changes, however, would allow for a balanced and stable budget. He said they will also cover improvements for drainage, electric, water, and road infrastructure, while keeping the “continued exceptional city services”.
The community is encouraged to attend public hearings for the budget on August 14th and September 5th, to discuss the tax and fee changes. Citizens are also encouraged to set up a time to visit with Fisher by emailing jfisher@cityofbrenham.org, or by calling 979-337-7590.