Farmersville City Council members met this week to consider more spending cuts so they can lower their proposed double-digit property tax increase and still balance the budget for the upcoming year.
During a budget work session on Tuesday, Finance Director John Lawrence reminded council members that property taxes provide the largest source of revenue for the city’s general fund budget. Sales taxes and other fees make up the rest of the city’s general fund revenue.
Lawrence said that in order to set a lower property tax rate, the city would have to make reductions in general fund expenses.
Last month, city officials considered a budget based on a property tax rate of $0.8369 per $100 of taxable valuation—the highest rate allowed by state law without a public vote—which would have generated about $2.4 million in property tax revenue for the city’s general fund.
That rate would have also raised the average Farmersville homeowner’s 2025 city property tax bill by 15 percent.
At Tuesday’s meeting, Lawrence presented figures for reducing the tax rate. He calculated that a $0.70 rate would generate about $360,000 less revenue than the voter-approval rate, whereas $0.715 would generate about $280,000 less.
Lawrence proposed possible reductions in the previously considered budget, including a general-fund hiring freeze, filling new positions only as the budget allows, and reducing library hours and cutting full-time staff from two to one.
He noted that the council voted last year to freeze property taxes for homeowners who are disabled and over the age of 65 and to provide them with a $30,000 homestead exemption, which took about $67 million off the tax rolls.
“So those two factors right there have contributed greatly to the increase in the tax rate that we’re seeing,” said Lawrence.
Mayor Craig Overstreet suggested holding budget workshops quarterly so the city can respond to changing economic conditions.
Overstreet said he was “disappointed” that the proposed budget doesn’t concentrate on improving roads as much as he believes is necessary.
“We’ve got to get that done,” he said. “But this is a budget that we need to look at hard and move forward.”
On September 15, the city will hold public hearings on the tax rate and budget. City council members will then vote on adopting both.
Lawrence told council members he would do his best to have balanced budget options for each of the tax rates considered.
“We’re hoping to keep this within reasonable bounds for sure,” said Overstreet.
Comments and questions about the budget and tax rate can be directed to Farmersville City Council members.
Meanwhile, Farmersville Independent School District trustees adopted a property tax rate of $1.215 per $100 of taxable valuation, the maximum allowed without a public vote.
No ads. No paywalls. No government grants. No corporate masters.
Just real news for real Texans.
Support Texas Scorecard to keep it that way!
