The Brownfield City Council and City Department Supervisors converged on City Hall to begin the 2022-2023 fiscal budget sessions and according to City Manager Jeff Davis, property taxes won’t go up, and the city is looking at between a $20 to $21 million dollar fiscal budget.
Davis showed the Council the revenue stream that is available to the city. There are nine revenue sources the city receives from. The main revenue comes from electricity sales which account for more than half of the revenue for the city, as is 55%. The next highest revenue source is the water and sewer charges which account for 16.68%. The property tax is 8.63% of the revenue, sanitation (trash) is 8.25%, sales tax is 6.57%, various other taxes and fees are 4.30%, miscellaneous revenue is .35%, rentals of city property is .15%, and interest earned is .03%
The 2021-2022 adopted property tax rate was .539138 cents per $100 valuation and gave the city $1,349,481.00 in revenue. The new proposed tax rate will be dropped to .530387 per $100 valuation and because the taxable property value went up over $10 million, the proposed revenue from property tax will be $1,380,556.00 and is $31,075.00 more than last fiscal year. If the council wanted to raise the property tax, the farthest it could go without voter approval would have been .549297 per $100 valuation. Sales tax in the City of Brownfield is 8.25%, whereas the state receives 6.25%, Terry County receives .5%, and the city receives 1.5% with .5% going to Brownfield Industrial Development Corporation (BIDCorp).
After the revenue sources were discussed, the Council moved on to the capital items. Here is a list of what has been requested by each department:
City Hall
- Carpeting – $10K
- Replace AC unit – $10K
Police
- 2 patrol units with equipment – $106,306
- Animal Control Unit – $43,449
- Access Control – $20,691
- Criminal Investigation Division Unit – $36,272
- Animal shelter repairs HVAC – $10,000
Fire
- FAST Grant Match – $75,000
- New Fire Truck – $450,000
Street
- Street improvements – $215,000
- New Sweeper – $200,000
- Fencing for public works yard – $90,000
Emergency management
- Outdoor warning signal
Parks and recreation
- UTV for parks – $15,000
- Resurface Kiddie Park play area – $40,000
- Irrigation at Coleman Park, 1st phase – $22,500
- New diving board – $10,000
- Zero-turn mower – $17,000
Line distribution
- Replace 42′ foot bucket truck – $112,000
- Replace service truck – $30,000
- Hydraulic dump trailer – $13,000 (Shared with Water Dept.)
- Replace HVAC at the electric warehouse – $10,000
- SCADA upgrades $10,000
Water/Wastewater
- Rebuild pump station – $15,000
- Water well rehabilitation (North well field) $30,000
- Replace water main 1000-1400 blocks of Cardwell – $50,000
- New VAC truck – $250,000
- Replace mower – $15,000
- Replace manhole – $15,000
- Lift station rehabilitation – $40,000
Sanitation
- New garbage truck – $200,000
According to Davis and the Council, these capital expenses are not set in stone. Through the next budget deliberations, they will continue to work out all the details.
Council members at the meeting were Mayor Tom Hesse, Michelle Cooper, Kelli Mendez, Celso Duran, Michael Tackitt and Eric Horton. Absent was JC Tejerina and Isaiah Bautista. City supervisors at the meeting included City Manager Jeff Davis, City Secretary Kelly Buris, Water Dept. James Nix, Police Chief Tony Serbantez, Fire Chief Dennis Rowe, Parks & Recreation Scott Jackson, Electric Cat Gonzales, and Streets & Sanitation Javier Duran
The 2nd Budget Work Session is scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022, at 6:00 pm at City Hall in the Council Chambers. On Thursday, Sept. 1, 2022, the City Council has called a public on the 2022-2023 budget, then the Council will propose the 2022-2023 tax rate. The 2nd public hearing for the budget will be Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022, and on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2022, there will be a hearing on the 2022 proposed tax rate, then the Council will adopt the 2022-2023 budget, then they will adopt the 2022 tax rate.
