Friday, September 13, 2024
AZLE — No Azle residents joined the meeting to speak during a Monday night, Aug. 19, public hearing on the proposed budget, the ad valorum tax rate and water and sewage rates.
The budget for fiscal year 2024-2025, which begins Oct. 1, will raise more revenue from property values than last year’s budget.
The ad valorem, or assessed, property tax rate is proposed to increase from the current rate of $0.5688744 to $0.614087 per $100 in valuation. This will produce a total increase in property tax revenue of $1,529,327 or a 17.43% increase from last year’s budget. These increases are attributed to increased property values, new construction and a debt-issuance for the Dunaway Lane Reconstruction Project. The project itself adds $0.035 to the tax rate. Water and sewer rates will remain unchanged.
A combined tax rate of $0.6140869 per $100 is proposed for FY 2024-25, with $0.5324341 allocated to the General Fund for maintenance and operations and $0.0816528 allocated to debt service. The proposed rate is $0.045215 more than the tax rate adopted last year.
Taxable values are estimated to be $1,677,767,961 which is an 8.79% increase from last year’s certified total of $1,542,278,275. This increase includes $69,161,050 in new construction.
“While the national and regional economies continue to recover, the city still faces many challenges,” City Manager Tom Muir stated in the budget’s overview. “The cost of providing city services is rising very quickly. These rising costs will also negatively (a)ffect the still active new home construction, as will elevated interest rates. As always, staff will keep a close eye on the economy and stay prepared to respond to changes as they come. Staff has made every effort to create a budget that will provide the services our citizens have come to expect, and staff will continue to seek improvements where they can be found. Furthermore, it is important to take a cautious approach in the coming year while at the same time intensifying our efforts to attract new businesses to Azle.”
The city will vote to pass the proposed budget during a Monday, Aug. 26 meeting starting at 6 p.m. The proposed budget, and past budgets, are available to read online at cityofazle.org/DocumentCenter/Index/16.
