City property tax bills are increasing again in Coppell. Not only will the city get more tax revenue at the current tax rate due to higher property values, they now plan to increase the tax rate 2.55 percent beyond last’s years tax rate. Even worse, they admit they do not need the new money.

If you are tired of paying higher property tax bills and want to stop the city from raising the tax rate, now is the time to take action. Show up to the public hearings as a display of support against higher property tax bills.

Here are some facts and talking points on the proposed increase in the tax rate.

The city council is proposing this increase because they will not be able to raise your tax rate as much next year without requiring a citywide election—THAT is the real reason for the increase. They want to raise the baseline as high as possible before having to get voter approval in 2020. Next year’s baseline will be based off of whatever tax levy they impose in 2019.

In short, you should look at this tax as a new, higher rate of taxation that will stay around for many years to come.

The total amount of the increased revenue—resulting from the higher tax rates multiplied by the total property value in the city—is $1.16 million, of which roughly 33 percent of the funds will come from a tax increase on properties the city also taxed in 2018.

The new revenue this year is a whopping 8.05 percent increase to the city. The average increase over the last three years was 5.37 percent, making the proposed revenue increase nearly twice as high as in previous years.

Even worse, the city admits it does not need the new money.

While spending is actually projected to decrease next year, the city is its increasing ending fund balance—or its savings account—by over $7,000,000. It will not be spending the tax increase this year but plans to collect the money anyway.

Perhaps you have a better use for your money than to stuff a huge surplus into the city’s coffers?

In short, rather than looking out for citizens and implementing an increase in the homestead exemption from the current 5 percent to the 20 percent most cities offer to their homeowners, Coppell is recklessly increasing taxes.

This is not “conservative” at all, nor is it looking out for homeowners on a fixed income.

It is critical that as many people as possible attend the hearings and ask the elected officials to adopt a budget that doesn’t increase property tax bills on longtime residents.

You don’t need to know anything about the budget in order to attend the hearings. Nothing in the budget needs to be “cut” to prevent the increase. The tax increase will simply fill up the city’s surplus savings account. It will not be spent.

You don’t have to talk unless you would like to talk. Just show up to show your support.

Please ask others to attend!

A second public hearing will be held at 6:00 p.m. on September 3 at:
Town Center
255 Parkway Blvd.
Coppell, TX 75019

For those who are unable to attend, please contact the mayor and city council by email and express your opinion.

Mayor Karen Hunt: khunt@coppelltx.gov

Mayor Pro-Tem/Place 7 Councilman Mark Hill: mhill@coppelltx.gov​

Place 1 Councilman Cliff Long: clong@coppelltx.gov

Place 2 Councilwoman Brianna Hinojosa-Smith: bhinojosa-smith@coppelltx.gov

Place 3 Councilman Wes Mays: wmays@coppelltx.gov

Place 4 Councilman Gary Roden: groden@coppelltx.gov

Place 5 Councilwoman Nancy Yingling: nyingling@coppelltx.gov

Place 6 Councilman Biju Matthew: bmathew@coppelltx.gov

This is a commentary submitted and republished with the author’s permission. If you wish to submit a commentary to Texas Scorecard, please submit your article to submission@texasscorecard.com.

Davin Bernstein

Davin Bernstein is a taxpayer in Coppell, Texas.

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