Taylor homeowners could see tax hike
Expected increase not due to higher rate, but rising property values.
WILLIAMSON COUNTY — The average homeowner in Taylor could pay about $159 more in property taxes this year. The increase reflects rising property values across Williamson County. The Taylor City Council is proposing to decrease the tax rate by 1 cent to 78.8 cents per $100 valuation — and would need to adopt a lower rate to keep taxes from increasing.
Under the proposed tax rate, the owner of the average home in Taylor, valued at $146,700, will pay $1,156, or about 16 percent more than last year.
The city has a proposed a $29.6 million budget that includes employee raises, road maintenance and rehabilitation projects, as well as improvement to downtown streets.
“The fiscal year 2018-19 proposed budget focuses on City Council’s proactive approach to increase employee retention and improve infrastructure,” said City Manager Isaac Turner. “City staff received a 2 percent across-theboard raise and targeted salary increases for long-time employees in an effort to make Taylor’s pay scale more competitive with the surrounding area.”
The city is gaining $182,323 in tax revenue from new property this year. The 2 percent raise for all employees, including police and firefighters, totals $356,824 in the proposed budget. In addition, the proposed budget includes
$319,148 for equipment, software and supplies for city departments.
There is also $2 million in the proposed budget for maintenance and rehabilitation of streets. This amount includes $1.3 million that is the city’s match for a Williamson County project to rebuild County Road 101 from U.S. 79 to Chandler Road.
The $2 million also includes $250,000 for maintenance of city streets and $500,000 to help rebuild streets. The city streets that will be rebuilt have not been determined.
The proposed budget also includes an additional $1.5 million to be spent on improvements to downtown streets with a decision about what kind of improvements to be made under review by city engineers.
The Taylor City Council will approve the budget at 6 p.m. Thursday at the City Hall at 400 Porter St.