SAN ANGELO – Two San Angelo City Council members were late to a strategic planning workshop Tuesday afternoon where the council was considering adding a $6.75 per month fee for street use because of street construction near the McNease Convention Center where the meeting was being held.
City staff presented the plan as a way to generate about $5 million per year for street maintenance through a fee tacked on to all water bills residential and non-residential.
Council members discussed the new fee as a way to generate the funds without raising the property tax rate. Council members Karen Hesse-Smith and Tommy Hebert expressed concerns that the timing of the Street Use Fee was bad since most residents recently received their new tax appraisals and virtually all of them went up significantly.
The video below is the entire 41 minute discussion about the proposed Street Use Fee during the workshop Tuesday:
The city council took no action on the proposed Street Use Fee Tuesday.
The Street Use Fee is based on the number of trips generated and businesses and governmental entities are classified as 'trip generators.'
While the city wanted to be clear that this was a proposal to generate revenue without raising the City property tax rate, council members were quick to say that the San Angelo Independent School District, Goodfellow Air Force Base and all government buildings and facilities that receive water from the city and have a water bill will be charged the Street Use Fee. That means that while the City property tax rate won't be raised to pay for this, the school district and the County, both taxing entities with facilities inside the city limits, will have to find funding to pay for the increase in their utility bills. The county's primary source of revenue is property taxes so it is possible that both the San Angelo ISD and Tom Green County would have to raise property taxes to fund the increase in their utility bills from the city.
The council didn't announce a timeline to move forward with creating the new Street Use Fee during the meeting Tuesday.
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How much was spent on the walkway down at the river?
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PermalinkNow with everything going sky high because of Biden is not the time to add to the tax payers burden. It needs to be put on the back burner till after the 2022 election to see if things are going to be brought under control.
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PermalinkThey didn't lower the tax rate but appraisals are up. Whats the difference?
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