SAN BENITO — Do you know what the city is spending money on? You can find out.
A copy of the proposed budget is now online and available for download by the public.
To find out the proposal, go to http://www.cityofsanbenito.com/
Residents who are curious about how the city is spending its money are encouraged to grab themselves a copy.
This evening, city commissioners will meet to discuss the budget. Before fully adopting the document, they will hear the first reading of its ordinance.
If all goes according to plan with the 2016-2017 proposed budget, the city will be closer to its long-term fiscal goals.
The city will be able to likely boost its reserves and give employees up to a 2.5-percent wage increase.
Last week, the city manager and officials spoke at length about the more than $12 million budget, which has a revenue surplus of about $178,000 before the planned employee raises.
The raises are expected to take up about $158,000 of that surplus. Officials agreed to earmark that money specifically for future employee raises to be analyzed at a later time.
The budget also ensures the city has enough reserve cash in the bank to operate for 110 days, at $35,000 per day.
Commissioners will also hear the first reading of an ordinance on the tax rate, which is remaining steady from last year.
The proposed tax rate exceeds the effective rate of about $0.721, which would be the rate needed to raise the same amount of property tax revenue as the previous year.
The city has among the highest tax rates in the Rio Grande Valley.
Most people will see a slight increase in their bills for the city’s portion.
In 2014, the average value of a home was $60,837. With the same tax rate of $0.728125, the amount of taxes imposed on those homes would have been $442.97.
This year, the average value of a home has gone up to $66,454. Now that the city is considering the same tax rate, the amount of taxes imposed this year on the average home would be $483.78.
In addition, commissioners will also take possible action to approve or amend the contract between the San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum and Munoz and Company.
Munoz and Company, an engineering firm out of San Antonio, was tasked with designing the museum plans.
A few months ago a representative presented the final plans of what the museum would look like to the commission.
You can expect a sleek guitar-shaped entrance that faces Heywood Street. The museum will be located at the corner of East Heywood Street and North Crockett Street.
