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August 30, 2008

Rusk council discusses tax rate decrease, utility rate increase

By Cristin Ross

cross@jacksonvilleprogress.com

Rusk City Council members took another look at the proposed budget for the 2008-09 fiscal year Thursday.

Along with trimming even more from the city’s expenses, council members discussed lowering the city’s property tax rate and increasing water and sewer rates.

The proposed 2008-09 budget of $2,191,776 is a 4 percent increase over last year’s adopted budget of $2,083,450. The tentative water and sewer rate increases are 75 cents per base price for both services and 5 cents per 1,000 gallons used — an increase of about $1.80 a month per average water customer.

“I think, Mike, you need to sharpen your pencils,” Councilman Sam Florian said, addressing City Manager Mike Murray. “Then you need to go back through this line by line — get your department heads to go through it, too — and cut what is not necessary.

“Everyone needs to understand it’s going to be tight next year,” Florian said.

Murray said some expenditures, including a new truck for the city maintenance department, have already been cut.

Council members also discussed keeping the property tax rate the same as last year’s, before Councilman Don Jones asked if the city could lower its property tax rate since valuations had gone up over the year.

“If it can be done, I’d like to see it come down,” Jones said.

Murray suggested moving the rate from 48.96 cents to 48.5 cents per $100 valuation. Murray calculated the decrease would cost the city $10,000 in tax revenue.

“It’s a nice gesture,” Murray said.

Murray told the council the proposed water and sewer rate increases were needed to help pay for the city’s new water well.

“That’s really the reason the budget increased as much as it did,” Murray said.

Murray said he’s still negotiating with Texas Department of Criminal Justice officials for approval of increasing water and sewer rates for the prison units in Rusk. Whatever decision state officials make regarding the city’s rates may affect the rate changes the rest of the city’s water customers face, Murray explained.

“I’ve spoken with TDCJ and they seem receptive to what we’ve proposed,” he said. “But any changes made to the contract we have with them has to go through all the channels, so it could be as soon as six weeks or as long as six months before we know where we stand there.”

Rusk City Council will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget and tax rate at 5 p.m. Sept. 16 at Rusk City Hall, 219 S. Main St., Rusk. The public is welcome.

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