Austin Council proposes max tax rate

The Austin City Council on Thursday proposed raising the city property tax rate as high as it can go before triggering an election, an expected move to stockpile as much cash as possible before stricter revenue caps go into place next year.

The proposed tax rate of 44.31 cents per $100 of property value is an increase from 2018's rate of 44.03 cents. Earlier this month, City Manager Spencer Cronk proposed a budget that would still go to the maximum rate under the current 8% revenue cap but would actually decrease the tax rate.

Since then, city financial staff received updated tax rolls from the Travis Central Appraisal District apparently indicating less robust property value growth than initially estimated. Ed Van Eenoo, the city’s deputy chief financial officer, said his office received the new figures last week and updated the proposed tax rate in response.

The council voted unanimously in favor of the proposed tax rate with no debate. The new rate is expected to increase property tax bills, though city staff is still calculating its effects.

"I'm sure (city property tax bills) will still go up," Van Eenoo said. But he said he was unsure if bills would increase more than the previously estimated increase of $99.87 for the owner an Austin home with the median taxable value of $358,955.

In 2018, the council approved a tax rate that increased city revenue 5.4%. The 2017, the approved budget increased property tax revenue 7.9%.

Travis County commissioners also could adopt a tax rate that would increase budget revenue 8%. County officials unveiled a budget with a 6% revenue increase Tuesday but said it would likely grow to 8% to bank cash before stricter state-mandated revenue caps take effect Jan. 1.

State lawmakers approved a 3.5% revenue cap on city and county property tax revenue growth this year to provide property tax relief for homeowners.

Former Council Member Ellen Troxclair, who now does work for the conservative Texas Public Policy Foundation, said the tax rate increase would make housing affordability worse in Austin.

"What’s sad is that low-income Austinites will be impacted the most," Troxclair said. "Thank goodness that taxpayers will see get relief next year from the state legislation that will limit these kinds of excessive increases."

Thursday saw the first of several public hearings on the proposed $4.2 billion budget, which garnered comments from more than 50 people. The budget proposal includes $62.7 million to combat homelessness, $15 million for a Del Valle fire station and additional money to hire 30 new Austin police officers.

Resident Paul Winstead spoke in favor of hiring the officers, pointing to FBI statistics that show the city is slipping in rankings of the safest cities in the country.

"We cannot afford to ignore the warning signs that we are falling further and further behind," Winstead said.

But several other people told council members they should reallocate the money for new police officers to create a team of mental health crisis first responders. Some proposed creating a team under Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services.

“By creating a mental health first responder team, we can better respond and prevent unnecessary shootings and better invest our public safety resources,” said Cate Graziani with Grassroots Leadership.

In other council actions, members gave second approval to a zoning request for several apartment complexes near the northeast corner of Riverside Drive and Pleasant Valley Road, a project known pejoratively as the "Domain on Riverside." The development will need one more round of approval before its owners get the go-ahead to redevelop the five tracts into a large, mixed-use development.