By Wyndi Veigel
News Editor
The Farmersville City Council held its second budget workshop for the upcoming Fiscal Year July 28.
On tap for the discussion was what to set the preliminary tax rate at and what items would be included for the FY 2015 –‘ 16 budget.
During the budget workshop, council talked about setting the preliminary tax rate at $.8689 per $100 valuation.
The average homeowner is Farmersville with a $100,000 house would end up paying $868 in city taxes with this preliminary tax rate.
Within the preliminary tax rate, the Interest and Sinking portion, which is used for city debt such as bond payments, will raise $754,433 and be $.4460 per $100 valuation.
The Maintenance and Operation fund portion of the tax will be $.4229 per $100 valuation which will raise $715,338 and $20,867 in the TIRZ zone.
The effective tax rate is $.7857 per $100 valuation. An effective rate is the levy that would raise the same revenue amount as in the prior year.
The council did discuss going to the preliminary tax rate plus three percent, however, they wanted to keep the tax rate under other cities in the county.
“We will be highest in Collin County if we did the effective plus 3 percent,” Mayor pro tem Jim Foy said. “We definitely want to keep it lower than Wylie.”
In the proposed budget, there are several included items.
There is a proposed increase to the mayor and city council budget up $5,000 for a budget workshop for FY 2016 –’17.
Currently the mayor gets paid $50 a month and city councilmembers get paid $20 per month. The majority of those serving in these positions donate that money back to the community such as to the Senior Citizens Center.
An increase bringing the part-time librarian up to full- time is included at an expense of $24,625.
Public safety will also have several items included in the preliminary FY 2015 –’16 budget.
Additional bunker gear for the fire department will be $23,000, an increase for dispatch will be $4,592, an additional paid firefighter will be $48,664 and a lease agreement for two new patrol cars will be $28,350.
Other items included in the preliminary budget are individual performance increases at a cost of $20,961, cost of living increases $58,102, backhoe lease $30,000, new city hall server $25,000 and an additional code enforcement officer $47,411.
The proposed tax rate will be discussed during the Aug. 11 city council meeting.
Public hearings for the tax rate will be held Aug. 25 and Sept. 1. The budget and tax rate will be adopted during the Sept. 8 council meeting.
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