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Lower tax rate, higher water, sewer rates proposed
BY DAN EAKIN, Staff Writer
The Lewisville City Council is proposing a lower tax rate for 2008-09 than in 2007-08, but is also looking at slight increases in the water and sewer rates.
Final action on the proposed general fund budget of $61,200,404 and the proposed tax rate will take place on Sept. 29, after several public hearings.
The council and city staff met for several hours Saturday in the Community Room of the Municipal Annex to go over detailed plans for expenditures and revenue for the coming fiscal year.
After hearing presentations by the city staff, the council agreed to propose a tax rate of .44021 per $100 valuation. The tax rate for 07-08 was .44050.
Thompson explained that the proposed rate is the effective tax rate plus three percent.
James Kunke, city community relations manager, explained how the effective tax rate is determined.
“A simple definition of the effective tax rate is the rate you would assess on this year's property value to collect the same tax revenue you received last year,” Kunke said. “In other words, if property values go up, the effective rate will be lower than the current actual rate. If property values go down, the effective rate will be higher than the current actual rate.
“In our case this year, the total taxable property value in Lewisville went up slightly from last year, due mostly to new construction and commercial development,” Kunke continued. “As a result, a slightly lower tax rate would be needed to produce the same tax revenue as was collected last year.”
Kunke said the numbers were such that the council could adopt the effective rate plus 3 percent (not plus 3 percentage points, which would be far different) and still have a slightly lower actual property tax rate than was assessed last year. This will be the second consecutive year with a rate reduction.
The council also proposes a 1.5 percent increase in water rates and a .5 percent increase in the sewer rates for 08-09. No change was proposed for garbage pickup rates.
Present water rates for most residential customers are $12.99 for the first 2,000 gallons, and $2.69 per 1,000 gallons after that. The average residential water customer uses about 8,000 gallons per month.
The present sewer rates for residential customers are $7.84 for the first 2,000 gallons, and $3.15 per 1,000 gallons after that.
Contact Dan Eakin at 972-628-4075 or at deakin@acnpapers.com. Comment on this story at scntx.com.
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