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Tax rate to remain the same in Lewisville
By Heather M. Goodwin, hgoodwin@starlocalnews.com
For the fifth straight year, the proposed tax rate in Lewisville will remain the same even as revenue increases.
The proposed tax rate is .44021. Before 2008, the last time the tax rate was lower than the current was in 1986. On Sept. 17, the Lewisville City Council approved the proposed budget, property tax revenue increase and property tax rate.
"The proposed tax rate is the same, but our overall tax base went up a little bit," said James Kunke, community relations and tourism director. "Last year, revenue was up in residential and down in commercial, but this year the increase in tax base is thanks to commercial properties and new development. Property values went down a little in residential."
In addition, the city has seen an increase in sales tax revenue. So far, sales tax is coming in higher than estimated for the current fiscal year, which allows for a higher estimated budget.
The budget includes changes, due to the additional revenue, made by the city council during the budget workshop held Aug. 11. The changes include a three percent merit based pay increase for city employees. The original proposed budget called for a one percent increase. The council set aside $674,894 for the pay raises. Kunke said city employees wouldn't receive the increase until their annual reviews were completed.
In addition, the city council set aside $260,000 for the city to do some kind of improvements to the fountains in front of city hall.
"The fountains need to be rebuilt. There is fairly extensive work that needs to be done to them," Kunke said. "The council has not decided what we're going to do right now. We might fix them or get them rebuilt."
The budget also includes $42,125 for holiday lighting on city buildings and $36,500 for the July 4 fireworks. Kunke said the city usually funds the fireworks show, this year it was added into the actual budget instead of being determined year to year.
The budget also includes $ 47,679 for a secretary in the health and code department. It includes $ 27,237 to fund an event planner for the Medical Center of Lewisville Grand Theater. Kunke said half of the funding for the event planner would come from the hotel/motel funds for a total of $54,474. The budget also includes $ 17,695 for a part time position in the finance department. There will also be $ 40,625 available for various departments to use for training.
Kunke said the city would also hire an additional fire inspector that will bring the total inspectors to seven. He said one of the city's fire inspectors is regulated to only multifamily units.
"We need the additional fire inspector to try and hit our goal of inspecting all Lewisville businesses once every year," Kunke said. "This probably won't get us to that goal, but we'll be closer."
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