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City Council Special Meeting <br />September 16, 2019 <br />Page 2 <br />day notice was required. Mr. Anderson said the ordinance in their packet reflected the reduced <br />budget. <br />After their last Council meeting, Mayor Clifford said he was hopeful that for once they <br />would not raise taxes this year. He said by adopting this reduced budget, they were keeping <br />taxes the same, even though the rate was going down. He said Council Member Portugal <br />brought up the possibility of bumping up the tax rate one or two pennies and tagging it for <br />downtown development. Mayor Clifford said after speaking with Mr. Anderson, that it was his <br />understanding that the City had well over ten million dollars in reserve funds. He also said <br />reserve funds should not be spent here and there, but a one-time expense was different. He said <br />it was also his understanding that 8 million dollars needed to be in reserves. Mayor Clifford said <br />they did not know how much downtown was going to cost but he understood it would take about <br />$500,000 more to complete the first phase. Mayor Clifford said he would prefer to pass the <br />reduced budget with effective tax rate, with the notion they could approve funding for some of <br />the downtown from reserves. Council Member Knox said one of the cuts was a new special <br />telephone system for the police department, and she would like to see the phone system <br />purchased. Mr. Anderson said the technology was aging and at some point, it would have to <br />replaced, and it would cost about $120,000. Council Member Knox said it seemed to becoming <br />more affordable and questioned if there was something they could do to move forward with <br />purchasing it. She also said they knew downtown was going to cost a lot; they planned for it <br />and budgeted for it. Council Member Knox said she was for downtown development but was <br />opposed to raising taxes to pay for downtown. Council Member Knox said if they were going to <br />dip into reserves that she would like to get telephone equipment for the police department. <br />Mayor Clifford deferred to Mr. Anderson. Mr. Anderson said as long as a little more than 8 <br />million dollars remained in reserves, that is something they could do. Mayor Clifford asked <br />Council their thoughts about using reserves to purchase telephone equipment for the police <br />department. Council Member Portugal said it was a good move to lower taxes, and that she <br />thought the police department should have the technical equipment needed to do their jobs. <br />Council Member Stone agreed. Mayor Clifford inquired if a separate vote would be required to <br />authorize the purchase of telephone equipment out of reserves. Mr. Anderson said it would. He <br />also said they had talked about doing a workshop in October and it could be done at that time. <br />A Motion to approve the budget as presented by Mr. Anderson was made by Council <br />Member Portugal and seconded by Council Member Knox. Motion carried, 4 ayes — 0 nays. <br />4. Discuss and ratify the property tax increase reflected in the budget as required by Local <br />Government Code Section 102.007(c). <br />Mayor Clifford said this item was moot, because the City Council did not raise property <br />taxes. <br />5. Discuss and act on ORDINANCE NO. 2019-032: AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY <br />COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PARIS, TEXAS, FIXING THE TAX RATE AND THE <br />TAX LEVY AND LEVYING AD VALOREM TAXES FOR THE CITY OF PARIS <br />FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 2019 UPON ALL TAXABLE PROPERTY WITHIN <br />THE CITY OF PARIS IN CONFORMITY WITH THE CHARTER PROVISIONS AND <br />