By Scott Harvey
Commerce – The City of Commerce has approved the City's property tax rate and budget for the 2008-2009 fiscal year.
The City Council agreed Tuesday upon a budget, with an estimated revenue of $9,544,427, and expenditures of $9,557,724.
The Council also approved a total proposed tax rate of $.736000 per $100 valuation. Of the total tax rate, $.587830 is the maintenance and operations rate, and $.148170 is the interest and sinking rate.
The adopted tax rate is approximately three cents lower than last year's rate of $.762000 per $100 valuation.
In addition to the adoption of both the budget and tax rate, the Council adopted the certified tax roll.
Each year the Hunt County Appraisal District certifies the appraisal records for Commerce. The values are used for the calculation of property tax revenue to be used in the proposal of the annual city budget.
The total net taxable value to be used for proposal of the 2008-2009 city budget is $317,789,153. The total was certified by Hunt County Chief Appraiser Brent South on July 25.
Also Tuesday, the City approved its water rates for the fiscal year which, based on a customer that uses 5,000 gallons of water, increases their monthly water expenses by $.93 or 3.48%.
Monthly rates for citizens include a monthly base cost increase of $.52 per month from $10.48 to $11.00, and a four cent monthly usage cost increase from $3.29 to $3.33 per 1,000 gallons of water actually used.
This is the first water rate increase for Commerce residents in three years. According to Director of Administrative Services Marc Clayton, the rate increase is only being implemented to recoup costs, and not to create additional revenue.