20 - COMPARATIVE TAX & UTILITY RATES

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Item No. 20 memorandum TO: Mayor & City Council FROM: John Godwin, City Manager SUBJECT: COMPARATIVE TAX & UTILITY RATES DATE: July 1, 2015 BACKGROUND: From time to time it is worthwhile to take stock of where we are in relation to other municipalities in regards to property tax and utility rates. Rates for both in different cities vary for many reasons, so comparisons are not always easy to use, but they do help us know at least in general where we compare with others. In some cases, these are cities with which we compete for both businesses and employees. STATUS OF ISSUE: I polled twenty other cities for their current ad valorem tax rates. Paris's rate in $0.50195 per $100 of valuation, compared to the survey average of $0.6092. Fourteen of the other cities have higher rates than Paris. To get a fuller picture of the overall property tax burden on citizens owning property in Paris, one must of course also include school, county, and other taxing entities. For Paris I used the highest of the three school districts (PISD); in other jurisdictions with more than one ISD, I tried to use the lowest rate. Paris's $2.57355 total is still slightly lower than the survey average. "Other" in the attached chart includes community colleges, hospital districts, emergency management districts, etc. The Texas Municipal League recently completed its annual survey of water and wastewater rates across Texas, in which Paris participated. They survey groups cities by population, then polls water and sewer costs at 5,000 and 10,000 gallons for residential customers, and at 50,000 and 200,000 gallons for commercial customers. Paris's water rates are below the state average at all four measuring points, but above average on all four for sewer. BUDGET: NA RECOMMENDATION: Information only.