Sugar Land’s second public hearing on its proposed 30-cent tax rate drew no speakers during Tuesday’s city council meeting.
The proposed rate is the same as the city’s current tax rate.
Prior to the hearing, Treasury Manager Donna Svatek gave an overview of the steps the city must take to adopt a tax rate.
“The (fiscal year) 2009 budget was filed on July 22 with a proposed tax rate of .30 (cents). The city received the 2008 certified tax roll on Aug. 11,” Svatek explained. “Since the proposed tax rate exceeds the calculated effective tax rate of .26939 and will generate more property tax revenue than in 2007, the city must follow the steps mandated by the Truth-in-Taxation law in order to adopt the same tax rate as 2007.”
The law, Svatek said, includes holding two public hearings.
“On Aug. 14, city council took the first step in the truth-in-taxation process by approving the placement of an item on a future meeting agenda for consideration to set the 2008 tax rate at .30,” she said. “The next step was for the city to hold two public hearings on the proposed tax rate. The first hearing was held on Aug. 26.
Mayor James Thompson then opened the hearing for public comment. He twice called for anyone wanting to speak to come forward. When no one rose to speak, Thompson closed the hearing.
Under state law, the two public hearings are required to be held at least three days apart, and the official vote on adopting the tax rate can be held no sooner than three days after the second hearing.
At least seven days prior to each public hearing, the city had to publish a quarter-page notice that the hearings would take place. The language in the notices is mandated by state law and cannot be altered by the city.
Those notices were published on Aug. 20 and 27. Additionally, the notice was posted on the city’s website and municipal television channel.
Final adoption of the tax rate is scheduled for Sept. 16.
Under the proposed rate, a resident with an average residential home value of $262,019 and a seven percent homestead exemption will see a tax bill of $731.03, an increase of $43.40 or 6.3 percent over last year.
According to information released by the city, the average residential value increased 8.6 percent from 2007 to 2008, driven largely by the addition of new, larger homes in the city. The average value of the new homes built in the last year was around $397,000.
