Council is currently reviewing the Capital Improvement Program and the associated budget, and is scheduled to do so through Mar 4 when the Council will be asked to decide what elements will be in the program and if a tax increase would be necessary to fund the improvements.
 
Staff has proposed $196.7 million in improvements. A majority of those improvements would be funded with increased utility fees where the improvement is for operation of a particular utility. For the $42 million in improvements that would be funded by tax-supported debt, staff estimates that the tax rate would need to increase 1.5¢ per $100 evaluation.
 
Staff is committed to not raising the tax rate for the Operations and Maintenance budget (O&M) so an increase of 1.5¢ on the Debt side would give a total tax rate of 70.36¢. The chart below shows the tax rate on residential property would be the nineth highest in the Metroplex.
 
If you operate a business in Garland or are considering locating to Garland, it is important to note that you'd be looking at the sixth highest tax rate in the Metroplex. If you were considering which Metroplex city to locate your business, other factors relatively even, would you pick the city with the sixth highest rate, one that has been climbing and is projected to keep climbing?
 
Caveats: This chart compares Garland's possible tax rate to the actual 2007 tax rates in our sister cities, some of which will change around the time Garland considers a change. It's not apples to oranges: it's comparing a new orange to one-year-old oranges. Also, the cities used in this comparison are generally those over 25,000 (Jan 2007 estimates) and in Dallas, Tarrant, Collin, and Rockwall Counties. Also note that the order is based on residential taxes, which might be lower if the city has a homestead exemption. Tax amount shown is what would be due on each $100,000 evaluation.
 
Garland's homestead exemption is currently 7%. If it were increased to 8% this summer, the change would not be enough to affect the order. However, if the CIP is constrained enough this year and there is no tax increase, Garland would be a little more than Mesquite, moving down one on the chart. If there is no increase in the tax rate and the homestead exemption is raised to 8%, Garland would then fall just below Mesquite.