Title
Consider approving a motion to place a proposal to adopt a maximum property tax rate of $0.631795 on the City Council agenda for September 16, 2025 and schedule a public hearing on the property tax rate for September 16, 2025, both meetings to be held at 6:00 p.m. at the City of Farmers Branch, City Hall Council Chambers, located at 13000 William Dodson Parkway, Farmers Branch, Texas; and take appropriate action.
Body
REQUESTOR:
City Management
BACKGROUND:
To serve their constituents, governing bodies in Texas must establish budgets and set property tax rates to support those budgets. The Texas Constitution and Tax Code require taxing units to comply with certain steps when adopting their tax rates. In addition, taxing units are obliged to follow legislative guidelines that ensure the public is informed of any increase.
Truth-in-Taxation laws and legislative guidelines also require that when a proposed tax rate exceeds the lower of the no-new-revenue rate or voter approval rate, the taxing unit's governing body must take a record vote to place a proposal to adopt a tax rate on the agenda of a future meeting as an action item. If the motion passes, the governing body must also schedule a public hearing and announce the date, time, and place of the meeting and the meeting at which it will vote on the tax rate. A taxing unit's governing body cannot vote to adopt a proposal to increase taxes by an unspecified amount.
The proposed maximum tax rate is greater than the calculated no-new-revenue (NNR) tax rate, which means that the City of Farmers Branch would increase property tax revenues for the 2025 Tax Year (Fiscal Year 2025-26) if it adopts the maximum rate. The proposed tax rate is not greater than the voter-approval tax rate; therefore, the City of Farmers Branch is not required to hold an election at which voters may accept or reject the proposed rate. The City's calculated no-new-revenue property tax rate is $0.519089, and the City's calculated v...
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