By Kevin Jefferies
Commerce – Budget talks have already begun among the city staff for Commerce, and the City Council gets involved with their first meeting in June. Preliminary tax rolls released by the Hunt County Appraisal District last week show just over 6% growth for Commerce. It is a number that means little wiggle room for budget makers, according to Commerce City Manager Bill Shipp.
SHIPP: That means it's going to be a difficult budget year. To be honest with you, I was anticipating more increase than that.
A rise in appraisals for property all across Hunt County was one of the reasons Shipp expected a higher growth rate. With widespread adjustments like that, however, he doesn't expect even the limited growth shown in preliminary tax rolls to stick.
SHIPP: The way some of these appraisals have gone up, there's going to be alot of appeals. The 6.1% is not going to hold. As a budgeting figure, we're going to use something probably close to half of that...probably something close to 3%.
The certified tax roll will be received on July 25th. The Commerce City Council gets involved in the budget at their first regular meeting in June.