Rockwall City Council Lowers Tax Rate for Sixth Straight Year

(ROCKWALL, TX – Sept. 17, 2019) At their meeting Monday night, September 16, the Rockwall City Council voted to adopt a rate below the effective tax rate, which continues a six-year trend to decrease taxes for Rockwall residents. The approved tax rate is 1.42 cents less than the rate last year. Also at the meeting, the Council adopted the budget for fiscal year 2019-2020.

The City Council directed staff to prepare a balanced budget based on the effective tax rate, which allows the City to collect the same amount in taxes as the year before, as calculated by formulas prescribed by the state. The new tax rate of 38.79 cents per $100 of valuation is down from the 40.21 cents adopted for the previous year. The actual change in ad valorem tax for any individual property is also a function of its assessed value.

Some of the highlights of the 2019-2020 budget include:

General Operating Budget of $39,048,300
Total assessed value of $6.05 billion
Three new full-time positions in the Fire Department
Four Parks maintenance workers
A mental health officer in the Police Department
Increased funding for street maintenance projects

“Both as residents of this City and as a Council, fiscal responsibility is of the utmost importance to us. We are happy to adopt a balanced budget that continues to provide a high quality of life for residents, without unduly burdening our taxpayers,” said Rockwall Mayor, Jim Pruitt.

The new budget continues to address important services such as public safety, parks and recreation, and street repair and maintenance. Several factors combined to enable the City to utilize a rate below the effective tax rate without making substantial cuts to the budget, including increasingly robust sales tax revenue coupled with significant increases in growth-related new value. The City’s fiscal year for 2020 begins on October 1, 2019.

Submitted by Lauri Dodd, Public Information Officer/Marketing, City of Rockwall.

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