Copperas Cove city council to meet next week to discuss property tax rate, hold budget hearings
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
The Copperas Cove city council will hold a workshop meeting on Tuesday, July 27, at 5:30 p.m., during which the council will hear from the city’s budget director and discuss the ad valorem property tax rate for fiscal year 2021-2022.
The upcoming fiscal year’s budget was planned using the current property tax rate of 78.65 cents per $100 property value.
The proposed budget includes an $731,050 increase in property tax revenue, up 6.63 percent compared to the current year’s budget. New properties added to Copperas Cove tax rolls will be bringing in $216,103 of new revenue.
Along with the current tax rate of 78.65 cents per $100, the council will be discussing the “no-new-revenue” tax rate as well as a “voter-approval” tax rate. The no-new-revenue rate is the tax rate which would raise the same amount of revenue as the current year, and the voter approval rate is the rate that would trigger an election.
The council will gather again on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. for a special meeting, during which a public hearing will be held for the city’s proposed fiscal year 2021-2022 budget.
The proposed operating budget, which can be viewed in its entirety at https://destinyhosted.com/coppedocs/2021/CCSPC/20210722_1720/10364_2021-22_Proposed_Budget_Book.pdf, totals $49,352,201. The budget also authorizes $3,831,771 for capital outlay projects. The budget itself is broken down by funds to include $19,578,649 for the General Fund, $15,661,447 for the Water & Sewer Fund, $7,110,108 for the Solid Waste Fund and $344,417 for the Golf Course Fund.
The Other Funds budget totals $6,657,580 for Special Revenue Funds, which include $4,124,039 for the Interest and Sinking Fund (city debt service payments), $1,525,509 for the
Drainage Fund, $49,300 for the Parks Improvement Fund, $450,000 for the Street Maintenance Fund, $109,675 for the Hotel Occupancy Tax Fund, $62,000 for the PEG Fee Fund, $29,491 for the Municipal Court Funds, and the remaining funds totaling $307,566 for the Miscellaneous Other Funds.
Along with the city’s budget hearing, there will be a hearing for the proposed 2021-2022 budget for the Copperas Cove Economic Development Corporation.
The CCEDC’s proposed budget for 2021-2022 is a little over $3.39 million, of which $2 million is earmarked for the land swap with Fort Hood, $500,000 for a DEEAG grant match, and $179,185 for “program expenditures.” The remaining $718,397 is for the EDC’s debt service, personnel, maintenance and repairs, contractual expenses, and designated services. The EDC receives its funding from 3/8-cent of Copperas Cove sales tax receipts.
Also on Thursday, the council is scheduled to take a record vote on proposing a tax rate based on Tuesday’s discussions, then then set a date for a public hearing on the proposed tax rate, if the rate exceeds the no-new-revenue tax rate or the voter-approval tax rate, whichever is lower, as required by the Texas Tax Code.
The council would have to formally approve and adopt the tax rate at its Aug. 10, 2021 meeting.
Both the Tuesday workshop and Thursday’s special meeting will be held in the city council chambers at 508 S. 2nd St., and the public may attend in-person. The meetings can also be accessed by phone at (888) 475-4499 and use meeting ID 9866029818 with passcode: 2545474221.
The public may offer public comments over the phone, and written questions or comments may be submitted up to two hours before the meeting via email to Lisa Wilson, City Secretary at lwilson@copperascovetx.gov.