Sunday, August 29, 2021

The Week of August 30th - September 3rd, 2021 in the City of Waxahachie

Hello Friends!
 
    Before we get into the city meetings, I'd like to just make a quick reminder about the Tuesday, 08/31/21 being Election Day for the HD10 race.  So far, only 4.5% of registered voters in Ellis County have turned out to vote and Tuesday is the last chance to do so.  http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/14806/Special-Election_EVDaily-Report_Master  Here are the times and locations that you can vote Tuesday: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/14762/ED-Locations-August-31?bidId= Also, if you'd like to see a sample ballot, you can view that here: http://www.co.ellis.tx.us/DocumentCenter/View/14770/210831-Sample-Ballot?bidId=  Now let's dive in to this week's meetings!
 
To view the city's calendar directly, please visit: https://www.waxahachie.com/calendar.php
 
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Tuesday, August 31, 2021
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12:00 PM - Civil Service Commission Regular Meeting
Council Conference Room, City Hall
401 S. Rogers St.


This is a pretty standard meeting with the exception of item 7b - Item for discussion (no action will be taken on discussion items) i. Notice of disciplinary action resulting in suspension.  There is no additional information regarding this item.

This is an open meeting, which means that residents are welcome to attend, but it will not be live-streamed at this time.
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***** 6:00 PM - City Council SPECIAL Meeting *****
Council Chamber, City Hall
401 S. Rogers St.


This is your opportunity to speak directly to the City Council and tell us what you want us to do regarding your proposed city taxes and budget.  There will only be this one public hearing for you to provide this input, so please come if you're able to do so.  We even moved the meeting, which is routinely held at noon each year, to 6:00 PM so that more people would be able to attend.

*** 5. - Public Hearing on the proposed Tax Rate for fiscal year 2021-2022
Let me provide some information on this topic.  Last year, the City Council reduced the tax rate from 0.68 to 0.66.  This year, the proposed tax rate is 0.66 again.  The budget is based on the tax rate.  Due to appraisal values, which are set by Ellis County Appraisal District, you will most likely pay MORE taxes if this 0.66 rate is set.  Officials like to say that you're paying more in taxes due to appraisals, but appraisals are what they are.  The city is given notice of what the appraisals are so that they can calculate the tax rate BEFORE it is set, giving the city the opportunity to adjust the tax rate. In the presence of rising appraisals, taxing entities can lower their tax rate to get the same amount of revenue as the previous year.  For example, the no-new-revenue rate for Waxahachie this year is $0.62588.  That means that if we set our tax rate at $0.62588, then we will bring in the exact same amount of revenue as last year.  That tax rate is not being proposed.  The proposed tax rate is set at $0.66.  To put things in perspective - if the city were to set the tax rate above $0.66050, the law would require an election to gain approval from the voters for that rate.

Things you might hear:
A) The city doesn't set appraisals.  This is true; however, the city and other taxing authorities vote for the members of the appraisal district's board of directors. Also, the amount of  TAXES YOU PAY = APPRAISAL x TAX RATE .  The city will set a tax rate. That is the one portion of the equation that they have control over.

B) City taxes don't make up the majority of your tax bill.  This is true.  The school district's taxes make up the majority of your total tax bill; however, this has nothing to do with the city.  The matter at hand is about city taxes and that is what your City Council has control over.
 
C) What city services do you want to cut?  This is one objection to lowering taxes that I really don't care for because it's a scare tactic.  (Yes, there will be people who speak at the hearing against lowering taxes. They do every year.) While some extraneous things might need to be cut, nobody that I know of (this is true of Councils in the past) has ever wanted to cut any services - especially fire and police. I can't imagine that our current Council would be any different in that regard. I propose that instead of cutting important services, that we use some of the city's $33,000,000 in unreserved funds to pay for the cut.

*** 6. Public Hearing on the City of Waxahachie proposed budget for fiscal year 2021-2022 and vote to set the date for adoption.
    This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year's budget by $2,919,240 or 11.3% and of that amount, $1,276,903 is tax revenue to be from new property added to the tax roll this year.  That means that 4.9% of that additional revenue is based on all the growth and new homes going up, but the remainder of that 11.3% is from current taxpayers.  We are growing and there's no denying that.  One could question, however, if the budget should be increased 11.3% over last year's budget.  Did your home get an 11.3% increase in its budget?  I know that ours sure didn't.  Maybe it should increase with an amount commensurate with the rate of growth in the city? Are there things we could trim from the budget?  I'm sure there are, but city management has a more intimate knowledge of everything that's included in the budget.  If, there really isn't anything to trim from the budget, I do propose we use those reserved funds to cut the tax rate.  We would still have a rainy day fund of 125 days of operation (I believe it is currently set to 125 days or 90 days) that would remain untouched. These are my thoughts on the subject.  What are yours?  Please come to the public hearing Tuesday evening and tell us.  You can also view an abridged version of the proposed budget in the agenda packet, linked above.
 
If you're unable to come to the meeting, you can reach out to Council by email.  Our email addresses are in this link: https://www.waxahachie.com/government/city_council/index.php
 
Being that this is a Council meeting, it should be live-streamed at the following link: https://www.waxahachie.com/government/city_council/city_council_meeting_live_stream.php This is also an open meeting and you are welcome and encouraged to come.
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6:30 PM - (CPAC) Comprehensive Plan Advisory Committee Meeting
Council Chamber, City Hall
401 S. Rogers St.
 

This isn't a community meeting like we had last time, but it is an open meeting, if you'd like to come and sit in on it.  This particular meeting will basically be a discussion of economics of land use and land use fiscal assessment results.

This meeting will not be live-streamed, but you are welcome to attend in person.  
 
If you haven't yet had a chance to take the Comprehensive Plan Community Assessment, please do so here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ca_wax  We also have an interactive map where you can drop a pin and tell us what we have done right or what you think needs work: https://cityofwaxahachie.mysocialpinpoint.com/city-of-waxahachie-interactive-map-map#/  Another way of providing input to the city as part of the comprehensive plan process is through our ideas board.  I know that our residents have the best ideas and we'd love to hear them.  You can participate on the ideas board here: https://cityofwaxahachie.mysocialpinpoint.com/city-of-waxahachie-comprehensive-plan/ideas#/

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Thursday, September 2, 2021
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8:30 AM - City Cemetery Board Regular Meeting
City Cemetery Pavilion
300 S. Hawkins St.
 
 
4 - Consider request form Craig and Janet Rudolph for bench on cemetery plot
 
5 - Discuss cemetery activities and take any necessary action
 
6 - Consider cemetery pavilion landscaping options and take any action
 
This meeting will not be live-streamed, but it is a public meeting and you're welcome to attend.
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3:00 PM - Park Board Regular Meeting 
Council Conference Room, City Hall
401 S. Rogers St.


4 - Discuss park events and activities and take any necessary action

5 - Discuss park projects and take any necessary action

This is a public meeting and you are welcome to attend, but it is not live-streamed at this time.
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4:30 PM - Keep Waxahachie Beautiful Committee Regular Meeting
Council Conference Room, City Hall
401 S. Rogers St.


4 - Discuss upcoming clean-up projects and the Battle of 287 clean-up project and take any necessary action

5- Consider P.I.N. (Pride in Neighborhood) nomination and selection

This meeting will not be live-streamed but is a public meeting and you are welcome to attend.
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I apologize for the length of this newsletter, but there was a lot to cover.  If you have any questions or need clarification on any topic, I'm always available to help and my contact information is at the bottom. I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible Tuesday evening at the special Council meeting to hear what you would like in regards to our tax rate and budget.

I hope that you have a great rest of your weekend and have a wonderful week ahead!

Your Friendly Councilmember,

Melissa Olson, CMO
(text) 817-507-5162
molson@waxahachie.com
 
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