In the advanced mathematics of City Finance 101, increasing property values means cities and other entities can lower their tax rate and collect the same amount of revenue – or more.
That doesn’t necessarily translate to a break for taxpayers.
Gladewater council members are working with City Hall staffers on the municipal budget for Fiscal Year 2024-2025, and they’re considering a decrease in the local tax rate. As discussed last week, an upcoming vote may lower the current 0.626978 per $100 valuation to 0.602087.
That said, the most recent numbers from appraisers in Gregg County and Upshur show total property tax revenues would increase by 9.2 percent. Incorporating other revenues, the FY25 General Fund would include about $520,000 more than the current year.
There are still conversations ahead and numerous factors to consider, but city officials say they’re ready to put any extra funding to work in Gladewater.
During a two-hour public budget workshop Aug. 8, City Treasurer Meghan Davis walked the council through the first half of the proposed financial plan for the coming fiscal year, which runs Oct. 1, 2024 through Sept. 30, 2025.
Gladewater’s market valuation in Gregg County is $367.4 million, $282.6 million in Upshur; it’s a total certified value of $649.7 million and a total taxable value of $493 million. The working tax rate includes 0.518587 per $100 valuation for Maintenance & Operations plus 0.0835 for Interest & Sinking, debt service.
Instead of using the ‘no new revenue’ tax rate of past years – the figure that would reap the city the same revenue in the coming year as the past year – Davis recommends a total just shy of the limit that would require voter approval.
“That’s as high as I can go,” she told council members. “When I got here, they were going to the no-new-revenue rate, which is absurd. Your no-new-revenue rate is way low,” limiting the city’s ability to address antiquated infrastructure and other needs, including growth. “I’ve been going right under the voter approval rate to bring in more revenue for the city so we can actually fix things.
“I don’t even look at the no-new-revenue rate. It doesn’t help us as a city to be able to run in the state that we are in. Putting Bandaids on it is unacceptable in my view.”
The city needs revenue to get the job done, Gladewater City Manager Charlie Smith agreed.
Taxes aren’t popular, but cities that don’t bring in funding aren’t taking care of business for residents: “It hurts you in the long run when you need to go in and do projects, and you can’t go higher than those numbers.”
“What we do have to do though is prove that the funds are being used correctly,” Mayor Brandy Flanagan said. “First off we highlighted infrastructure and how much additional funds are being used for that,” about $450,000 planned for FY25 compared to just $50,000 four years back.
Parks are another funding priority, with a planned expenditure of $110,000 compared to the $45,000 originally budgeted in FY2024 – actually expenditure to date is close to $200,000.
“The third item I want to make sure to draw attention to is our employees… We want to get where we’re able to pay the employees what the industry standard is.”
Beyond a cost of living adjustment, every city employee is currently slated for a 3.5 to 5 percent increase in compensation in the coming year.
There are other revenues feeding the city’s accounts, and a key part of last week’s discussion focused on substantially increasing the City of Gladewater’s efforts to secure grants. At the same time, the council and city employees are working to streamline processes and reduce waste to cut expenditures, such as bring more mowing back in-house or using grassroots effort to defray the cost of building an animal control facility.
“I want to make sure and show that this money has been put toward the things that are going to continue to grow us as a city,” Flanagan said, “and the things that people want us to put it toward.”
Review the proposed budget online at CityofGladewater.com via tinyurl.com/Gladewater2425.
– By James Draper