The City Council of Missouri City has voted to maintain the city’s current tax rate of $0.5284 per $100 of property value – a rate that is less than the effective tax rate and is expected to generate $450,000 less for the city than originally projected.
The city will “fill the gap” by leaving staff vacancies unfulfilled and limiting “discretionary spending.”
The effective tax rate, the rate the city would need to asses to generate the same amount of revenue as the previous fiscal year, was $0.55.
“The city is keeping the commitment we made last spring not to increase taxes for this budget,” said City Manager Frank Simpson.
Simpson told council in June that the current five percent reduction in city staff does have the potential to decrease the efficiency and effectiveness of city services.
The reduction is the result of the hiring freeze in 2009, implemented due to the current economic climate. Sixteen vacant positions have been left unfilled, with a savings of more than $1.2 million.
“City Staff will continue to do everything it can to avoid any drops in levels of services to residents and businesses,” Simpson told council earlier this year. .
The police department is exempt from the freeze. Council decided earlier this year to drop a proposed homestead exemption from the May election ballot in order to provide $514,226 in the 2011 budget to hire seven additional police officers.
Property taxes for the 2011 fiscal year are projected to decrease by $1.1 million, franchise fees are projected to decrease by $545,000 for the prior year and sales tax is budgeted to remain flat. Because the city begins the fiscal year July 1, the budget must be adopted without the certified appraisals, which are not complete until September.
As the economy has slowed, the city has steadily cut each year’s budget.
The proposed General Fund Budget for 2011 of $31,169,110 represents a 6.1 percent decrease from the original 2010 budget, which was a 2.1 percent decrease from the 2009 approved budget.
The largest decrease is due to the 16 staff positions that will remain unfilled. The positions include a human resources manager, a human resources technician, a communications administrative assistant, two detention officers, two project managers, two street technicians, a parks crewleader, a parks caretaker, an assistant director of planning, a plans examiner, two permit service representative, an inspector and a mechanic.
Further cuts include eliminating “user fees” paid into the Computer Replacement Fund and the Vehicle Replacement Fund. Simpson told council that adequate funds exist to purchase the necessary replacements in the next year, but scheduled and needed replacements will not be able to be carried out if contributions are not made in the following years.
