Title
Consider adopting a motion to place a proposal to consider adopting a maximum property tax rate of $0.599507 on the City Council agenda of September 17, 2019; schedule two public hearings on the proposed maximum rate for August 20, 2019 and September 3, 2019; and take appropriate action.
Body
BACKGROUND:
Truth-in-taxation laws require a number of public notices to inform taxpayers about local property taxes. The first notice is an individual notice to a property owner. If the appraised value of a property is greater than last year's value, the chief appraiser of the county sends a Notice of Appraised Value to inform a property owner of proposed property values and other necessary information. This notice includes an estimate of current year taxes based on the current year's proposed taxable value and the last year's tax rate.
The next notice is a Notice of Proposed Property Tax Rate and it must be published in a newspaper of general circulation or mailed to each property owner at least seven days prior to the date of the first scheduled public hearing. The content of the notice depends on whether or not a proposed property tax rate exceeds the lower of the effective or rollback tax rate as calculated under Chapter 26 of the Tax Code. The effective tax rate produces the same amount of operating revenue (adjusted for new construction and debt service changes) as the prior year. The rollback tax rate produces 8% greater operating revenue (adjusted for new construction and debt service changes) than the prior year. Adopting a tax rate greater than the rollback rate allows 7% of registered voters an opportunity to sign a petition that would require City Council to hold a rollback election to determine whether or not the adopted rate could go into effect.
Truth-in-Taxation laws and legislative guidelines require that when a proposed tax rate exceeds the lower of the effective or rollback rate, the taxing unit's governing body must take a record vote to pla...
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