Copperas Cove looking ahead to property tax rate election
By LYNETTE SOWELL
Cove Leader-Press
On Tuesday, the Copperas Cove city council took a record vote to propose a tax rate of 0.661043 per $100 valuation, which is the “no-new-revenue” tax rate.
However, proposing this tax rate means that Copperas Cove voters will see this on the Nov. 5 election ballot.
The no-new-revenue rate is the rate that will generate the same amount of property tax revenue that it has for the current year.
Another property tax rate option, not proposed by the council, is the voter approval rate.
This is the highest tax rate that the city council can approve without triggering a special election. This rate is $0.608079 per $100 valuation, as calculated by state law parameters.
The voter approval rate would put the city’s General Fund budget short by $385,079, added to the already-known operating deficit of $135,584, which is for capital expenditures.
Because the council proposed the no-new-revenue rate, which is higher than the voter approval rate, per state law the council must call for an election to get voter approval for this rate.
If Copperas Cove voters approve this rate, the city’s fire and public safety staff will see their full market rate adjustments to their pay and city staff will receive their cost of living allowance (COLA) increase, starting in the new fiscal year which starts Oct. 1.
Both the no-new-revenue and voter approval rates are lower than the current year’s tax rate, which is $0.672652 per $100 valuation.
The city council will be holding a special meeting on Monday, Aug. 19, at 5:30 p.m., when it will hold a public hearing on the proposed tax rate. The meeting will be held at the city council chambers, 508 S. 2nd St.
The council has until Aug. 26 to call for a special election to put the decision on the higher-than-voter-approval tax rate to Copperas Cove voters.