The big picture
At an Aug. 18 meeting, Fulshear City Council decided not to call an election to send its proposed $0.199901 per $100 property valuation tax rate to voters ahead of the Aug. 18 election deadline. Council also postponed the adoption of its fiscal year 2025-26 budget and tax rate.
The 23.51% tax increase—which would see a $50 average annual increase for $500,000 homes—was proposed after the council saw the need to fund additional items, including road maintenance and keeping up with the salaries of nearby law enforcement agencies, City Manager Zach Goodlander said.
“I don’t want to go to the voters for a tax rate increase that’s posed as a solution if it’s just a temporary fix,” he said.
By the numbers
City Council will now need to determine the proposed tax rate, which can be no higher than the voter approval rate at $0.189901 per $100 valuation, officials said.
Last year, the city decreased its tax rate by 4.09% to $0.161856 per $100 property valuation, an amount almost half that of nearby Rosenberg’s $0.32 per $100 and almost a quarter of Richmond’s $0.639791 per $100.
Notable quote
“I think we need to get our ducks in a row,” council member Camron Miller said. “We need to better understand where we’re at and why we’re having the issues that we're having, and I don’t think it’s a quick fix ... I think it's taking a step back. Let’s be strategic and deliberate and prepared to make these suggestions, especially when it comes down to taxpayer dollars—it’s a big deal and we got to get this right.
Looking ahead
City Council will schedule a future budget workshop to determine a finalized tax rate and budget before approval. The deadline to approve the budget is Sept. 30, ahead of its Oct. 1 start date.
