City Manager Bill Dollar presented his proposed budget to the Council two weeks ago. Presentations from departments began at Monday's work session.
 
Mr Dollar does not propose a tax rate increase this year. Instead, he and the city staff feel refinancing of the city's debt to more favorable rates would allow some decrease in the portion used to pay capital debt and an equal increase in the operations and maintenance portion. As property values have declined overall, the net effect is that taxpayers would pay less city taxes next year.
 
I will present more detailed information on a number of aspects of the budget over the next several posts. This post will look at Garland compared to other Metroplex cities. The data is from Garland's Budget and Research Dept.
 

Metroplex—Percentage Change in Property Tax Base
After incurring the second-highest decline in property tax values last year, Garland's decline in 2010 is closer to that of the Metroplex average.

The more modest decline this year is probably because there was a much steeper decline last year. Fort Worth benefited again from the higher property rates of more properties producing gas around new drill sites. Sachse has enjoyed strong growth the past year where new properties have added favorably to the tax base.
 

Proposed 2010-11 Metroplex Property Tax Rates

Proposed tax rates by other Metroplex cities are not settled yet but the data shows the current indicators of what these cities will adopt. Garland is above the Metroplex average but several cities are expected to remain still higher. The data above is for 12 area cities.
 

Proposed 2010-11 Metroplex Property Tax Rates for Homeowners

Homeowners often fare better, depending on the city. Some cities offer a homestead exemption that can range from 1 to 20 percent. Garland is currently at 8 percent. Even there, Garland is almost 6 percent over the average tax rate of these 12 cities. Of the seven highest cities, only Fort Worth and Garland has a homestead exemption. Of those other cities with an exemption listed here, most are well below Garland, 20% on average. To see how Garland fared last year to all cities over 25,000 in the Metroplex, look here.