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City of Graham approves budget and same tax rate

Thu, 09/27/2018 - 5:21 pm
Editor@grahamleader.com

The Graham City Council approved the 2019 fiscal year budget and tax rate of 0.658126 per $100 valuation on Thursday during a special called meeting.

The tax rate approved by the council remains the same as last year due to the city receiving more revenue from increased valuation of existing properties and the addition of new properties to the tax role. City Manager Brandon Anderson presented during the city’s second budget meeting the increased valuations which had grown by $15,162,990 from the 2017 valuation to $382,996,939.

This number was closer to the 2016 valuations for the city of Graham of $383,931,490, with 2017 seeing a valuation drop of around $16,098,000. Under the unchanged rate the city would receive $658.13 of property tax on a typical $100,000 home. 

The new budget has an increase in the general fund of a little over $550,000 from the previous year moving from $8,995,605 in 2017-18, to $9,545,721.60 in 2018-19. City Manager Brandon Anderson said at the meeting on Thursday while it is an increase in spending, the increases are due to projects and required capital expenses. 

“What that $500,000 increase has to do with though is the involvement of the airport project, more capital expenditures that are more than normal, which was the $100,000 on the fire truck, the $80,000 or $90,000…so when you add those two or three items together that’s how we inflated that number in the general fund overall, but they are either funded through a capital loan or through funds that will be received so it is an increase in overall spending, but it is covered,” Anderson said.

Both the budget and the tax rate were on the council’s agenda during the regularly held council meeting held last Thursday, but not all council members were present at the meeting and the city’s charter required a unanimous vote for it to be approved with one reading Anderson said.

The city of Graham is one of five separate taxing entities in Graham which have passed a tax rate for 2018-19. Those entities and their tax rates are the Graham Hospital District ($0.399657 per $100 valuation), Graham ISD ($1.3470 per $100 valuation), North Central Texas College ($0.05 per $100 valuation) and Young County ($0.758613 per $100 valuation). Meaning a property owner in Graham will pay $3.213396 per $100 valuation or $3,213.396 on a property valued at $100,000.

For more on the City of Graham's budget and tax rate read the Sept. 29 edition of The Graham Leader.