Background
The City’s annual proposed budget - which is available online at www.sugarlandtx.gov/budget - is first and foremost designed to fund the priorities of the residents of Sugar Land. This year, the priority emphasis is on investments in public safety - including drainage improvements to protect residents and their property, innovations in Fire / EMS service and the design of new facilities critical to keeping residents safe, such as a new Emergency Operations Center. Accountability and transparency have never been more important, so the proposed budget also includes funding for technological investments into making these efforts more visible and accessible.
Citizen engagement is an important cornerstone of the success of our community, and residents are invited to participate in learning more about the budget and sharing thoughts with the City through budget workshops and public hearings.
Public Hearing & Action to Consider at Future Meeting
The proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2018-2019 was filed with the City Council on July 17, 2018. In accordance with Local Government Code §102.006, the City must hold a public hearing on the proposed budget. The public hearing must be set on a date at least 15 days after the proposed budget is filed.
Notice to hold a public hearing on the budget must be published in at least one newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the municipality is located. This notice must be published no later than the 10th day, or earlier than the 30th day before the public hearing on the budget. The budget hearing notice must contain specific information about property tax increases in a type of size at least equal to the type used for other items in the notice:
“This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year's budget by $10,271,104 or 25.78%, and of that amount, $8,876,260 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year.”
Please note that this year’s property tax revenue calculations reflect the impact of the addition of Greatwood and New Territory to the City’s tax roll – which results in a large percentage increase in new tax revenue to the City to pay for the services to the annexed areas.
The Notice of Public Hearing was published on August 8th in the City's newspaper of record. The City has been promoting the public hearing on social media and encouraging the public to attend and provide input.
Additionally, Local Government Code §102.007(a) states: "At the conclusion of the public hearing, the governing body of the municipality shall take action on the proposed budget." Since workshops on the proposed budget and tax rate are still in progress, the action recommended at this time is a vote to consider adoption of the budget at a future meeting.
With that, staff recommends the City Council hold the budget public hearing and take action to consider adoption of the budget at a future meeting.