By: N. Bradford
Pearland City Council on Monday approved final readings of the city’s budget along with an approximate 10-cent tax increase.
Separate votes on the budget and tax rate passed 6-1, with Councilman Alex Kamkar voting against. Kamkar made a motion to cut $2 million from its $114 budget.
“I’m asking can the city live with $112 (million),” he said, pointing out the difference in city tax bills from the year prior. “I don’t know many people whose wages went up 15-16%.”
That motion died for lack of a second. On the tax rate vote, Kamkar moved to lower the tax rate by a cent and a half. That motion also died when no one seconded.
Councilman Adrian Hernandez said the overall tax burden for Pearland residents is going down.
“There will be relief on the ISD side,” he said, referring to a state property tax measure that will be on the November constitutional amendment ballot. “When I talk to people, I ask them, ‘What is the most visible, impactful part of local government?’ They often cite police, fire, roads. Your city taxes are somewhere around 25 to 30 percent of your total.”
The city’s new approved rate of 65.54 cents per $100 of property value is about a dime above the no-new-revenue rate, which is the calculated rate adjusted for changes in property value. The prior year’s city tax rate — which city leaders have emphasized was artificially low due to a valuation error — was 62 cents.
A required public hearing held Monday night drew no citizen comments.
