Published: August 09, 2008 09:08 pm      

Tax, sewer rates top city agenda

PALESTINE — City officials will consider setting the city’s tax rate at 63.9 cents per $100 valuation during Monday’s Palestine City Council meeting at City Hall.

The meeting will begin at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 504 N. Queen St.

The city’s tax rate for the current fiscal year also is 63.9 cents per $100 of taxable value.

However, because property values throughout Palestine have increased this year, the tax rate is expected to generate more tax revenue for the city than it did last year, thus increasing the “effective” tax rate.

Under state law, because the proposed 63.9 cents is higher than the current effective tax rate and lower than the rollback tax rate, the council must hold two public hearings on the proposed amount.

The public hearings are set for Aug. 25 and Sept. 1, with a final vote to adopt the tax rate set for Sept. 15. State law says that the tax rate must be adopted either by Sept. 29 or 60 days after receiving the certified appraisal roll, whichever is later.

Also during Monday’s meeting, the council will consider a requested rate increase by Allied Waste due to the rising cost of fuel.

With the proposed rate increase, the price for twice weekly residential trash service would become $10.12.

In other business Monday, the council is expected to:

• PROCLAIM Sept. 1, 2008 to be “MDA Day” in Palestine in association with the 43rd annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon;

• RECOGNIZE City Secretary Janelle Williams for attaining state certification as a Level II Court Clerk;

• PRESENT the city’s first DeAnn Evans Award to a city employee;

• HEAR the City Manager’s Report, which is expected to include monthly departmental reports from the Palestine Police Department, Palestine Municipal Court, the Palestine Fire Department and the Palestine Public Library;

• CONSIDER appointing Charles Gurganus and Howard Piquet to the Parks Advisory Board;

• CONSIDER appointing Robert Leslie to the Planning and Zoning Commission;

• DISCUSS and adopt proposed tax rate for fiscal year 2008-09 and schedule public hearings on the proposed rate;

• CONSIDER an ordinance approving budget amendments for fiscal year 2007-08 regarding the Palestine Municipal Airport;

• CONSIDER a sanitation rate increase from Allied Waste Services and an extension of agreement to Sept. 30, 2009;

• HEAR comments from council members during the “Items from Council” portion of the meeting;

• CONVENE in closed session to followup on City Manager Dale Brown’s annual performance evaluation;

• RECONVENE in open session to take any action necessary resulting from closed session relative to the evaluation;

• MEET in a work session to discuss the annual budget for fiscal year 2008-09.

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Beth Foley may be contacted via e-mail at bfoley@palestineherald.com

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On the Net:

City of Palestine, http://www.cityofpalestinetx.com/