BRENHAM CITY COUNCIL TO CONTINUE DISCUSSION ON BUDGET, TAX RATE

Josh Blaschke September 1, 2020

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The Brenham City Council will hold a pair of meetings Thursday to continue talks on the budget and tax rate for the 2020-21 Fiscal Year.

The council will first hold a budget workshop to receive an update on the current fiscal year budget and discuss the proposed budget for the new fiscal year. After the workshop, the council will convene for its regular meeting, where it will hold a public hearing and issue first reading of an ordinance adopting the proposed budget.

The city is currently proposing a $68.4 million budget. The budget being presented at Thursday’s meeting is balanced without the use of reserves, despite the city discussing plans to utilize $361,690 in reserves at a budget workshop August 13^th. According to Chief Financial Officer Carolyn Miller, the revised proposed budget includes a personnel attrition factor which recognizes budget savings normally incurred from employee turnover. She said the attrition factor is the “gap” in pay and benefits from position vacancies.

Through the proposed budget, the city estimates an increase of $179,536 in property tax revenue from last year’s budget, or 2.44 percent. Of that amount, $69,774 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll. The increase is due to the new property, as well as an increase in existing property valuations. The council will consider an action to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the budget.

Councilmembers will also consider the first reading of an ordinance levying property taxes for the new year at 50.4 cents per $100 valuation. The new rate consists of 32 cents for maintenance and operations and 18.4 cents for debt service, and is one cent less than last year’s tax rate.

Also at Thursday’s meeting, the council will consider:

A resolution adopting a grant management policy for the city.
Accepting a bid for 2020 Salem Road street improvements.
Approval of the routine airport maintenance program (RAMP) grant agreement with TxDOT for Fiscal Year 2021.
An update on the city’s COVID-19 response and recovery efforts.

The council will meet Thursday morning at 11:30 a.m. for the budget workshop and at 1 p.m. for its regular meeting. Both meetings will be held at Brenham City Hall.

Click here to view the agenda packet for Thursday's council meeting.

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