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HARLINGEN — A work crew targeting drainage upgrades along with a bigger street paving program are on their way as part of Harlingen’s new $57.8 million general fund budget coming with a 6-cent tax cut while padded with the largest cash cache in the city’s history.
Earlier this week, city commissioners passed the budget coming with a $31 million fund balance, cutting the city’s 61-cent property tax rate to 54 cents per $100,000 valuation amid the Cameron County Appraisal District’s historic re-appraisals of taxable property values.
After commissioners worked weeks debating proposed tax rates, Mayor Norma Sepulveda said the cuts slashed the city’s tax rate to its lowest level in about 20 years.
Boosting employee salaries to market levels
This year, commissioners’ priorities included boosting city employees’ salaries to market levels.
As part of the budget, they’re setting aside $478,000 during a two-year period to increase 129 City Hall employees’ salaries after a consultants’ study found many wages below those paid at like-sized cities.
Meanwhile, officials are putting together a $277,436 package giving employees 2% across-the-board pay hikes.
Based on collective bargaining agreements with local unions, commissioners are setting aside $503,124 during the next three years to help fund a $1.3 million increase in officers’ salaries, while earmarking $493,838 to boost firefighters’ pay.
Facing United Health Care’s 5% increase in employee health insurance premiums, commissioners are taping $205,707 to help cover costs.
Setting up drainage work crew, funding street project
Tackling flooding problems, commissioners are calling on officials to set up a work crew charged with making drainage upgrades, setting aside $193,000 to cover wages along with $608,349 t0 fund equipment purchases including a $365,000 excavator, a lowboy semi-trailer, a backhoe and a front-end loader.
This year, commissioners are also planning a $1.8 million street paving project, funded in part through a monthly street maintenance fee raising about $1.4 million a year.
At City Hall, officials are planning to upgrade the processing of city documents after commissioners earmarked $139,284 to buy an internal document scanning and retention system.
In the city’s code enforcement department, officials are hiring a code enforcement officer at a salary of $48,103 along with a vehicle priced at $43,150.
Setting lowest tax rate in 20 years
After weeks of debate, commissioners are cutting 6 cents off the tax rate following the appraisal district’s sharpest spikes in city property’s re-appraised taxable values.
During a series of meetings, commissioners considered slashing the city’s 61-cent tax rate by as much as 7 cents.
Based on the city’s tax rate, 1 cent generates about $470,000.
After reviewing proposed expenditures late last month, commissioners set the so-called voter-approved tax rate of about 54 cents per $100 valuation, capping revenue collection at the state-mandated 3.5% level.
Appraisal district’s historic property re-appraisals
Still, the appraisal district’s historic re-appraisals of taxable property values is leading many property owners to brace for tax hikes.
Across the city, the new re-appraisals spurred the city’s total appraised property values to soar to $4.7 billion, up from $3.9 billion last year, leading to a total $780 million increase, with new construction accounting for $55.1 million of the hike.
Under the voter-approved tax rate of 54 cents per $100,000 valuation, the city will take in about $1.2 million in property tax revenue.
In reviewing options, commissioners had the choice of setting the so-called no-new-revenue tax rate of about 51 cents per $100 valuation.
While the voter-approved tax rate will generate about $21.6 million in revenue, the no-new-revenue tax rate would raise about $20.4 million.
This year, under the voter-approved tax rate, property owners with homes valued at $100,000 will pay $555 in city taxes, while under the no-new-revenue tax rate, a $100,000 home would owe $519 more in city taxes, Kareem Abdullah, the city’s deputy finance director, said in an earlier interview.
Based on the city’s 6-cent tax cut, the owner of a $100,000 home will save $60 a year, City Manager Gabriel Gonzalez said.
