The Brownsville City Commission has conducted its first public hearing on the proposed ad valorem tax rate for Fiscal Year 2019 and the second one on its proposed $147.8 million budget.
Last Tuesday, Finance Director Lupe Granado III presented an analysis of the effective, current and rollback tax rates. The tax rate recommended for FY 19 is the current 0.700613 cents per $100 valuation, which balances the general fund budget. Although the same rate has been in effect since 2012, it represents a 1.81 percent increase over the effective tax rate.
The effective tax rate is $0.688141, which would result in a $712,311 shortfall in revenue, and the rollback rate is $0.741376, which is 7.73 percent higher than the effective tax rate.
Pastor Brad Burkes, of the Embassy of the Spirit Bilingual Church, voiced his opposition to the proposed tax rate.
“Like always, I just encourage you not to increase the tax rate,” Burkes said. “I think we can look at our budget and look at what the priorities of the people really are and concentrate on those things.”
District 1 Commissioner Ricardo Longoria Jr. told Burkes the tax rate has stayed the same for years.
“I just think that maybe just maybe, sometimes, it’s better to grow just a little and take it as it goes,” Longoria said.
The second hearing on the proposed tax rate is scheduled for Tuesday.
Jorge Santillan, the assistant finance director, addressed the commission on the proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2019.
The city is proposing a budget of $147,877,505 for FY 2019. Revenue from property taxes, fees and services, fine and forfeitures, etc., are anticipated to generate revenue of $145,929,649, which would leave a deficit of $1,947,856 in the budget.
That deficit would be reduced to $1,619,568 after operating transfers from other funds. Officials anticipate a fund balance of $31,028,325 on Sept. 30, 2019, compared with $32,647,894 for the current fiscal year.
The budget includes community priorities received during a budget town hall meeting on May 30. These priorities are police and fire, traffic/code and ordinance enforcement, administration, streets and drainage, culture and recreation, and vector control/wellness program.
