The Week of July 13th - 17th, 2020 in the City of Waxahachie

Hello Friends,

I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe in this heat.  Sounds like it will be a scorcher for at least the next couple of days.  This will be a newsletter that is much more lengthy than usual, so I apologize for that in advance.

I'd like to first, let you know that the Council tabled agenda item # 10 from the last meeting to the July 20th.  There seems to have been some confusion about what that item was about and I'd like to clear up a few things:

• It is NOT a tax rate increase of 8%
• It is the Council considering the calculation of our rollback rate at 8% due to COVID-19, instead of 3.5% (which is what it should be calculated at under Senate Bill 2, authored by Senator Paul Bettencourt)
• Before SB2, a city’s rollback rate was the rate necessary to raise precisely eight percent more maintenance and operations tax revenue as the year before after taking into account appraisal fluctuations.
• In addition to changing the terminology from “rollback rate” “to “voter-approval rate,” S.B. 2 lowers the multiplier used in the rate calculation from 8 percent to 3.5 percent
• IF the rollback rate is calculated at the 3.5%, preliminary projections say it will drop our total tax rate by a few cents/ $100 of valuation
• If a city goes over the rollback rate, it triggers an election for the people to approve the suggested rate, hence many entities will go up to or near the max but not over because they know that residents aren't going to approve more taxes.
• If you'd like to learn more about SB2, here is a document with Q & A from the Texas Municipal League, which talks about it: https://www.tml.org/DocumentCenter/View/1485/sb-2-qa_update_jan-2020 
• Council IS considering a tax rate decrease of 2 cents / $100 valuation on the debt service side of the tax rate from last year's debt service rate.  
•  The total tax rate is broken down into a few portions - M&O (maintenance and operations), Debt Service and Library M&O.

This may have cleared things up, or may have made them more confusing.  I hope it is at least a little clearer now on the procedure and what Item #10 was about.  That being said, I still would like to see our city calculate the rollback rate at 3.5% because it isn't about 'leaving money on the table' or what the city will lose.  It's YOUR money and the less of it we take, the better. 

Based on the preliminary numbers I've been given, the 3.5% rollback rate would still cover everything in our basic operations and even all those service enhancement requests for this budget, except for one item.  If we postpone the $1.7 million expenditure for the design and engineering on a new City Annex building (currently looking at $15 Million more for the cost), we have more than enough to cover what the City needs and then some.

Some have said that I have been untruthful by leaving out information, but that wasn't my intent at all.  I was trying to explain the one Council agenda item without having to do this much in-depth analysis.  Most people ask me - explain it to me simply, so I did.  Apparently, that made some think I was intentionally leaving out information.  Anyways, I hope that all of this has been useful and perhaps lends to a better understanding of this component of your property taxes. 

The only items on the calendar so far for this week are the P&Z briefing and meeting Tuesday night, so please check back on the calendar for more items being added (although I don't anticipate any at this time). http://www.waxahachie.com/calendar.php

-------------------------------------
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
-------------------------------------
6:00 PM - Planning & Zoning Commission Briefing Session
Council Conference Room, City Hall

Agenda: https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/document-uploads-001/uploads/video/agenda_file/73530/PZAgenda20200714B.pdf

The purpose of this meeting is to conduct a briefing to discuss items for the 7:00 PM regular meeting.  Residents are welcome to attend.  This meeting will not be live-streamed.

==========================
7:00 PM - Planning & Zoning Commission Regular Meeting
Council Chamber, City Hall

Agenda: https://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/document-uploads-001/uploads/video/agenda_file/73531/7-14-20_P_Z_Agenda_Packet.pdf

There are three public hearings on this week's agenda.

7 & 8 - Public hearing on a request for a proposed Subdivision development, Dove Hollow, located adjacent and south of Grove Creek Rd.  Staff is recommending approval of this case, SP-75-2020, with a Developer's Agreement.

9 & 10 - Public hearing on a request for owner WISD for a zoning change to Planned Development - Single Family - 3, with Concept Plan, located at the NW corner of Peters Street at Graham St. The prior submittal which included 120 townhome lots was denied by Council on 04/20/20.  This new case # ZDC-83-2020, is being recommended for approval with a Developer's Agreement by staff.

11 & 12 - Public hearing for a Planned Development Amendment, with concept plan, located generally at Conquest Boulevard and US Highway 287.  The applicant is requesting to amend Ordinance 2296, to allow for construction of a second phase of 188 residential units on 10.407 acres. Staff is recommending denial of this case, ZDC-84-2020.

This meeting will be live streamed and can be accessed via the following link: http://www.waxahachie.com/government/city_council/city_council_meeting_live_stream.php

--------------------------------------------------------
That's all there is for this week.  As noted above, please check the City's calendar (link above) to see if any meetings have been added.

I hope that everyone enjoys the rest of their weekend and has a wonderful week ahead!

Your Friendly Councilmember,

Melissa Olson
(text) 817-507-5162
molson@waxahachie.com
www.olsonfortexas.com