The Simonton City Council will meet on Tuesday, June 27, 2023 at 6:30 PM at Simonton City Hall. The public is encouraged to attend and to participate in sharing their thoughts and concerns via “Public Comments”.

Background:

Each year, by September 30, every taxing entity in Fort Bend County is required to prepare and adopt their annual budget for the Fiscal Year that in Simonton’s case will begin October 1, 2023.

This workshop meeting will be the first in a potential series of workshops and hearings in which the City Council considers its objectives and how it will pay for them.

The city has three primary sources of income:

• Franchise fees: These are fees that the city collects from companies that operate within the city limits and use public rights of way. These include electric providers (Centerpoint) as well as telecommunication services such as certain telephone and internet providers.
• Sales Taxes: Yup. Sales taxes are collected from businesses that operate within the city of Simonton.
• Property Taxes (ad-valorem taxes): The Central Appraisal District establishes the value of the property within the city. The City Council sets a rate that will achieve its budget needs.

So, the Budget meeting is extremely important in determining the financial burden that taxpayers will bear in order for the city to operate – especially as related to property taxes.

Who comes up with the budget?

The Mayor submits her proposed budget – one that she believes will meet the operating objectives that the city has as well as the programs that she would like for the city to take on. From this perspective, the budget is the Mayor’s.

However, the city council is responsible for spending and consequently, while they may receive the Mayor’s proposed budget, they are under no obligation to adopt it or operate according to it. 

So, through the budget workshop process, the City Council reviews, amends, and changes the proposed budget so that at the end of the day, they can adopt it formally at a future meeting. The way the process is supposed to work is that after the budget is adopted, the City Council sets the tax rate that will achieve and accommodate the adopted budget. From this perspective, the budget is the City Council’s. 

Together, both the Mayor AND the City Council are responsible for the preparation and adoption of the city’s annual budget.

Last year (August through September of 2022), the Mayor and City Council adopted a budget and tax rate that increased our property taxes by more than 136% more than the 100% that the city was already receiving.

Will it be the same story this year?

If you want to stay informed about the budget that your city is considering and know up-front how your family’s finances will be impacted by it – you should come to the budget workshop meetings and have your say if you are given a chance.

CLICK HERE for the Meeting Agenda on the City’s website.

As before, I plan on live-streaming the meeting via my facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SimontonTexas/ 

In the event that I am unable to stream the meeting, I will post the video as quickly as possible. Of course, it will be presented prominently on this website as well.