Public to get look at proposed city tax rate
BY PHIL REYNOLDS

City council members will meet for the first of two hearings on a proposed new city tax rate at 5 p.m. tonight, Thursday, Aug. 10, in the city council chamber.

The proposal calls for the tax rate to drop from the current 37.8 cents per $100 valuation to 29.7 cents per $100 valuation. When it's coupled with the recently-passed city homestead exemption of 20 percent, City Manager Michael Kovacs estimates that the proposed rate would save the owner of a home currently valued at $250,000 about $300 in taxes next year.

The rate is above the city's effective tax rate but still comfortably below the so-called "roll back" rate, the tax rate which automatically calls for an election to determine if voters will approve the new tax structure.

The saving doesn't take into account any rises in property valuations during the coming year, a process over which the city has no control. Property valuations are done by the Nueces County Appraisal District.

However, city officials have conferred with state Comptroller Carol Strayhorn about ways to possibly revise appraisal procedures, and Kovacs said he just learned that the city itself can file objections to property appraisals. That information came too late to be used this year, but will be part of the city's arsenal next year in an attempt to keep property taxes lower.

The second public hearing on the proposed tax rate will be at 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 21, also in the city council chamber. That meeting will also be a public hearing on the proposed city budget.

The council is tentatively scheduled to meet to adopt the budget and tax rate at 5 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 31, in the council chamber.