Department: Management and Budget
Department Head/Elected Official: Daniel Ramos
Regular or Supplemental RCA: Regular RCA
Type of Request: Policy
Project ID (if applicable): N/A
Vendor/Entity Legal Name (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Contracted Goal (if applicable): N/A
MWDBE Current Participation (if applicable): N/A
Justification for 0% MWDBE Participation Goal: N/A - Goal not applicable to request
Request Summary (Agenda Caption):
title
Request for discussion and possible action concerning 2024 tax rates.
end
Background and Discussion:
Deadlines for proposing and approving tax rates for 2024 are approaching. The Office of Management and Budget requests a discussion related to tax rates for the County, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD), Hospital District, and/or Port of Houston. This may include discussion on timelines, budgets, and/or tax rates.
Commissioners Court normally proposes tax rates for all entities it sets the tax rate for at the same time. To propose any 2024 maintenance and operations (M&O) tax rates above the Voter Approval Rate (VAR), the discussion of tax rates must be expedited to meet statutory timelines for proposing tax rates, holding a public hearing, adopting tax rates, and calling a Voter Approval Tax Rate Election (VATRE). Should voters not approve an adopted tax rate at the election, the 2024 M&O tax rate would revert to the VAR. Per the Texas Tax Code, any VATRE must be held on the November uniform election date, which is November 5, 2024 this year.
Based on past discussions at Commissioners Court on 4/23/24 (Item 489), 5/7/24 (Item 102), and 7/15/24 (Item 121), OMB has been directed to provide possible 2024 Tax Year tax rates to inform potential future HCFCD budgets for consideration on the August 6, 2024 meeting of Commissioners Court. The Flood Control District has identified a need to address deferred maintenance on its existing and new assets that cannot be addressed long-term even going to the VAR.
Should Commissioners Court desire to propose a M&O tax rate above the VAR, Court would propose tax rates (both M&O and debt rates) at the August 6 meeting and a Public Hearing should be properly called and noticed so that it can be held at the August 15, 2024 meeting of Commissioners Court, after which the Court can adopt the proposed tax rates and call for a VATRE.
Expected Impact:
The decision to hold a Public Hearing on 2024 tax rates on August 15, 2024 will allow Commissioners Court the opportunity to vote on whether to adopt a tax rate above the VAR and allow Harris County voters to affirm or deny that rate at an election. For Flood Control in particular, additional revenue from a tax rate above the VAR would support the District’s ability to advance a higher level of maintenance on flood mitigation infrastructure assets across the County.
Alternative Options:
If the Court does not decide to propose a tax rate above the Voter Approval Rate, there is no need to call a tax rate election and tax rate decisions can be taken up at a future meeting.
Alignment with Goal(s):
_ Justice and Safety
_ Economic Opportunity
_ Housing
_ Public Health
_ Transportation
X Flooding
X Environment
X Governance and Customer Service
Prior Court Action (if any):
|
Date |
Agenda Item # |
Action Taken |
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4/23/24 |
489 |
Request by the Commissioner of Precinct 3 for discussion and possible action on the breadth of deferred maintenance under Harris County Flood Control District responsibility and the increase in FY25 budget necessary to mitigate it. |
|
5/7/24 |
102 |
Request for discussion and possible action on a timeline for addressing deferred maintenance and an increase in FY25 budget to mitigate it. |
|
7/15/24 |
121 |
Request for discussion and possible action on a plan for addressing deferred maintenance and timeline for such action. |
Location:
Address (if applicable):
Precinct(s): Countywide
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Fiscal and Personnel Summary |
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Total Funding Request |
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Personnel (Fill out section only if requesting new PCNs) |
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Current Position Count for Service |
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Additional Positions Request |
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Total Personnel |
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Anticipated Court Date: August 6, 2024
Anticipated Implementation Date (if different from Court date):
Emergency/Disaster Recovery Note: Not an emergency, disaster, or COVID-19 related item
Contact(s) name, title, department: Daniel Ramos, Executive Director, Office of Management and Budget
Attachments (if applicable):