 response that talks about the property tax and goes into a little bit of history back to 2019 of the tax rates, the average taxable value. I think we had an earlier presentation which we shared with you the history of the effective tax rate turning into the no new revenue tax rate and the voter approved rate at one time was based on an 8% growth level and now it's at a 3 and a half percent growth level brought to us by the state legislature. I'll stop by just highlighting I think the important parts of the tax rate discussion. The recommended tax rate is the 71 and a quarter. The no new revenue tax rate is roughly 66.7. The voter approved rate is just under 71 cents at 70.99 and the tax rate that we are allowed to go to without voter approval is 79 cents. So with that I'll throw it open. Can you it's in here I think well maybe the history isn't but when you say the tax rate we're allowed to go through without voter approval remind this table and importantly by listening what that really means and how that happened. So with the change of the state law back in 2020 it allows local governments to capture prior year growth that was that prior year growth that was below three and a half percent and in fiscal year 21 the existing tax base only grew by half a percent. We actually could have let me do it this way the no new revenue rate in fiscal year 21 was higher than the existing property tax rate. So what the state was saying is you could have raised the property tax rate in fiscal year 21 and since we did not increase the tax rate in fiscal year 21 we got to carry that amount forward and any year that we didn't do the whole amount right for the no new revenue rate that you can go back three years and capture that. And if I'm remembering correctly in the careful deliberation the legislature underwent to get to that place in that bill was just for that reason right to allow you incentive as cities to not raise taxes especially during at the time a really difficult economic situation stabilize not raise it to the not known river bill allow you to carry over. Correct. Okay and that was the decision a prior council made which was very wise in my opinion right to not do that to taxpayers. And when you look at the tax rates in 21 and 22 we were below the no new revenue rate. Yeah so I think that the purpose of this budget response was a very important dialogue around both the proposed tax rate and very importantly what this council has heard from residents over the tenure so far we've been on council together going into this budget cycle and responding to those in support of the changes or the recommendations that David has made. And while we see is it around forty million dollars in additional revenue David. I think what we calculate is the difference between the no new revenue rate and the recommended tax rate is roughly forty five million dollars every penny on the tax rate is worth about nine point three million dollars. Okay and another thing that this might not be possible right off the bat but you think about forty five million dollars in revenue that we're asking taxpayers to support this council and some of our really important initiatives which we'll get to in a second the average homeowner in Fort Worth based on average home price what does that increase look like on their individual bill back of napkin. He's moving around. I can't tell if you can see it or we do this what we shared in the budget response is you look at average taxable value increasing from a little over two hundred and sixteen thousand to two hundred and forty three thousand so that that value is going up while the tax rate is coming down and on that average tax it is going up what's at about a hundred and fifty dollars per household bill per household so per average taxable value right per average taxable value does that make Clint since day around the table articulating that out loud okay so the the real discussion and I know all of us care deeply about this I've probably gotten feedback from residents is why are you raising taxes right it's a hundred and fifty dollars in your bill extra but it's still real money to families we recognize that I think it's probably my husband's grouchiest time when he's having to pay our property tax bill but I think I think thank you to to management and Renee and his team attempting to articulate to our residents here in Fort Worth the 26% of your total bill is City of Fort Worth and what are you receiving for that investment in the city number one and I think we've done a better job this year than ever before really reminding people of that that 50% or more is your school district and so that's one point the second would be demonstrating this is where I think this dialogue needs to come up today is the forty five million dollars in additional revenue that we're asking taxpayers to believe in our decisions here what are we doing with that money right and it's a significant decision if we don't use the forty five million we go to the no river tax rate what are you going to cut and I don't think in my opinion those cuts are palatable especially with all of our priorities in one of the fastest growing cities in this country and remind us David you did a great job during budget what are some of those items that we've put in this budget that are made possible because of this tax rate that you're recommending well thank you and I think I got this down after ten public meetings on the budget and and again it's a team effort as you mentioned with all the management team but we're emphasizing the safe and clean part for the city and that starts with public safety and starts with the increases that are in the budget for police and fire and we talked about that money that's in there for fire fires you know 18 million dollars more than the prior year and we've got the 45 additional patrol officers the additional officers in crisis intervention and hope now some of that's being paid out of the CCPD fund but patrol officers are a general fund expense and it includes when we shift to being good stewards on our infrastructure that we're building there's more money to maintain the infrastructure that we're building and that includes roads and parks and sidewalks and we're increasing as you know the proportion of the tax rate that is going toward the maintenance of that infrastructure and that increase allows us to do more and better in street lights remember the increase in the pay-as-you-go tax rate is to support street lights and pavement markings and we're going to go from in roughly an eight-year cycle to a three-year cycle on pavement markings and we're going to respond to street light requests within 30 days so once they're identified that we're going to repair and fix street lights in that period of time and I'll I'll say that that's been fairly popular going around the city talking about safe and clean community on the other side the we've talked also about the environmental fee going up and I'll just put that out there I'd say generally that's well received too we're committing to a visibly cleaner city by increasing the environmental fee and that again goes back to more street sweepers more crews picking up trash more homeless camp clean-ups and so I do think the the message of safe clean Fort Worth resonates pretty well as part of the budget yeah process I would agree and one theme or one thesis I have and I want y'all to react to this is if I feel like agreement around this table has been our number one focus in the city right now has to be getting our violent crime down we now reached over our homicide rate for last year by two murders just the last few days but the burden of that cannot just be on the police department all of the things that David just walked through in my opinion lead to a safer city and being a clean city absolutely relates to being a safe city and quality neighborhoods and safety and lights and sidewalks all those things if we around this table decided nope we want to be at the no-newer that never intact right now to tell people that we cannot be a clean and safe city I can look anybody in the eye and say that with with complete faith that I'm right we just can't and so it's a tough decision we would all love to be able to tell people that we're keeping it flat but it's not possible in a fast-growing city with big city problems in order to make sure that Fort Worth continues to be the best place to raise a family and the best place to have a business and live and have a high quality of life and I'm also really proud of your team putting together a budget that is tangible but I think in one year's time we'll be able to honestly say to people do you feel a difference and I think the answer will be emphatically yes I see a difference in cleanliness and homeless camp clean up and lights and streets all those things that are really important and oh by the way we've also added 45 officers so react to that what are you hearing from people you've all had meetings in your district around this topic Leonard David just one clarification on the property tax versus the stormwater and the environmental yeah are on the bill will those be those are separate right yes okay and it's it is the stormwater or the environmental piece is that part of the 45 that you're talking about no no okay yeah just 45 just relates to the general fund property tax right stormwater separate correct yeah guess I'll continue if there was anything that I heard or we hear from constituents is not really any pushback on what we are proposing it's again the confusion between or not not confusion it's the frustration with the appraisal district and trying to understand that whole dynamic I think the way we presented the how how people are taxed was excellent it was just very clear and that led to very good conversations but again it's just that dichotomy really of you're telling me you're lowering your taxes but my properties taxes are going up explain that and then the discussion about the appraisal district's role and kind of the black box that is thanks Leonard who else wants to say anything Elizabeth go ahead I personally support the new the tax then proposed tax rate I think we do a really good job of while there is a net gain in residents property tax bill I think that's indicative of what we see across the board of you know inflation and as as property values rise which are great if you're trying to sell a home right everybody loves that that that tad value when they're trying to sell their home but when it comes time to pay taxes right no one wants that and I get it but I also think what I have heard is that our residents no one likes to pay taxes it makes you know Dave Parker grumpy it makes everyone grumpy but what makes them even more grumpy is when you're driving down the street you have to replace a tire because you've hit a pothole or it's not safe driving down the street because you know you don't know where the lanes are it's it's Mario Kart out there and and I think our and what I've heard overwhelmingly from District 9 residents is it's not that they don't want to pay taxes I mean sure everybody grumbles about their tax bill but people are willing to pay for services right and I think this year we have done a much better job at articulating what services they're going to get and not just with the increase the 45 roughly 45 million dollars that that we have now to work with but across the board this is what you're getting we're we're going up a dollar on your environmental fee but man we're putting out a fleet of street sweepers but I think I don't know if Brandon is in here but wasn't it like the lane miles was enough to cover the city you know every I don't was like a week or a month every single time I mean that's significant and I think when we get when I get this constituent calls that very much is you know a homeless camp needs to be cleaned up why is there litter on the side of the road I've called three times and I can't get the street light fixed or I can't see on the road and and we've really prioritized that in this budget and so I'm comfortable moving forward with it I think that we have done a great job of balancing what we need to run the 12th largest city with being very mindful of the current state of of the economy right now anybody else go ahead cross feedback we received yesterday at the meeting we had some I think some specialty topics that came up I mean I don't know if it's been heard in others but water you know as a resource came up and that was that was an interesting question that I had not heard come up in other you know meetings unless I missed it police presence and again I say presence because there is that perception you're not enough police and to some degree I understand that and agree but it's also I think on the part of you know our residents that they don't have a good handle on how things were deployed the prioritization of calls you know Chief Aldridge did a good job of you know addressing some of those concerns the usual the roads and sidewalks I mean I think I heard it said you know William correct me if I'm wrong I think our materials were at what three billion in need over then over that number it's staggering all right we're addressing it but again can't address it all at once taxes did come up and flooding flooding yeah anybody else Allen go ahead so you know I've had several constituents come to me with concerns about the tax rate and I think the statements I've made are pretty clear on that when we look at the budget I think there are a lot of great things here I mean you know aside from property tax impact everybody wants more police they want the safer city they want the cleaner city priority wise I think we hit a lot of really high notes and I'm very appreciative of that so and I appreciate everyone's point of view today too yeah anybody else no no you know one thing that and I know that councilmember crane is chair of our legislative committee is having you know thinking about this right now but I was just pulling up Senate interim charges and there are several in there I think we should partner on if that if that looks like there is room in this next session to work with the legislature on property tax reform they're gonna look closely at the SB2 that they pass that we are working with right now and I think we're in a model city frankly of how we approach it and work together to still arrive at a budget and then second is this huge issue around school property taxes and how can we be of service and working alongside our own school districts and advocating in Austin because I still wholeheartedly believe the only way the average Fort Worth resident and homeowner is going to see relief is through some new mechanism for operation of our schools at the state level and funding schools and in the legislature on both sides of house and Senate have been talking about that openly so that's just gonna be a charge for us to work with Michael and his committee prior to next session and be prepared for that and then I think you're right Leonard I've heard a lot of it's like it's a mystery around the appraisal district and some of the news in the last few months hasn't been helpful and we probably need to take a more active presence and in that and especially around education for for folks because it does seem to be really difficult for people to understand Michael yeah thanks for bringing up mayor I'm at this point I want to praise staff I know this is most people it only gets on their radar you know a few weeks before this and we start talking about it but I know that staff and departments have been working on this for a year or more and taking priorities or other things that we've had in the past and how do we get those things done what I want to make sure that we do and this is really I guess we're the policy side if we're gonna tell people that we're doing this we got to do it if we're gonna tell people that they're gonna have street lights in 30 days I don't want to hear an excuse that it's 90 days if we're gonna tell people that payment markings are we done three years instead of eight years etc it better be done because we're taking the sleep and I like that how you said mayor that this is tangible but when it's tangible and it doesn't get accomplished that's when people lose faith in us yeah and I don't know where I'm sitting right now with this property tax rate and look at but what I'll say is if we're gonna make a promise then we better keep it right so I'm putting on the record for staff because that's when we'll lose faith yeah we'll lose faith agreed anybody else questions or anything for staff no okay that's the last item on agenda is that right David that's correct that if I could remind everybody it's still not over yet yeah right we will have a public hearing on the budget next Tuesday right so the formal public hearing will be next Tuesday if you have any other questions related to the budget we're still available to answer those and provide them to all council members and then we're scheduled for September 27th which will be the approval of the budget ordinance and the tax rate correct and we currently do not have any additional holds for budget work sessions no but if for any reason there was a last-minute or issue we can always try to find scheduled time to do that so just make sure district directors know if there was an issue we can make that happen so okay with that I think we're adjourned council thank you