The Denton City Council adopted the City’s Fiscal Year 2019-20 budget and tax rate on Sept. 17, 2019.
The FY19-20 adopted budget reduces the property tax rate just over 3 cents per $100 of valuation. This brings the tax rate down from $0.620477 to $0.590454 per $100 of valuation and maintains an effective tax rate, or the tax rate that results in the same amount of revenue from existing properties as the prior year.
The adopted budget includes no rate increases for Water, Wastewater, Electric, and Solid Waste & Recycling services. This not only continues a trend of no increases to utility rates over the past three years, but also maintains rate reductions for Wastewater, Electric, and Solid Waste & Recycling service from the FY18-19 budget. During FY18-19, Wastewater rates were lowered by 5 percent and Electric rates by 3.5 percent. Additionally, during FY17-18, Solid Waste & Recycling rates were reduced by 12.5 percent.
Staff began the development of the FY19-20 budget in the spring of 2019 and the proposed budget was presented to the Denton City Council throughout June and July. The City hosted three budget workshops and public hearings on the budget and tax rate throughout August and into September. During this time, residents had the opportunity to provide feedback on the budget and tax rate by attending a public meeting or by submitting their feedback through an online portal.
The City of Denton has continually worked to become more efficient at delivering services and managing costs. While the City is lowering the tax rate, the budget includes several notable funding enhancements made possible through these cost saving efforts, including:
- Three (3) new Firefighter positions for Station No. 8 ($322,214)
- Four (4) new Sworn Police Officer positions ($494,789)
- Two (2) new Civilian Jailer positions ($146,445)
- Three (3) new Public Safety Officer positions ($244,457)
- Three (3) new Public Safety Dispatcher positions ($294,517)
- Two (2) new full-time and two (2) new part-time Animal Services positions ($227,740)
- Enhanced park maintenance ($508,105)
- Additional funding for homelessness initiatives ($684,600)
Additional budget information is available on the City of Denton website at www.cityofdenton.com/budget.