City of Crockett Adopts FY 2022 Budget

Lowers Tax Rate

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

CROCKETT – Taxpayers in the city of Crockett received some good news on Monday evening, Aug. 16 as the Crockett City Council lowered the tax rate.

The Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 proposed budget came in at $8,798,609 and as required by law, a public hearing was held on the proposed budget for the FY 2021-2022.

City Administrator John Angerstein reported the city had not received any comments on the proposed budget, which had been on display in the City Hall Foyer and online.

“We did have one phone call from a woman who wanted to know why we were lowering our tax rate,” he said.

With no comments for or against the proposed budget, the public hearing was closed and the council was asked to consider adopting the FY 2022 budget.

A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved an ordinance, “… making appropriation for the support of the city of Crockett for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2021 and ending Sept. 30, 2022: appropriating money to the sinking fund to pay interest and principal due on the city’s indebtedness; and adopting the annual budget of the city of Crockett for fiscal year 2022.”

Following the adoption of the budget, a public hearing on the 2021 tax rate was opened. Once again, with no comments for or against the 2021 proposed tax rate, the public hearing was closed and the council was asked to consider approving the 2021 tax rate.

“The proposed tax rate has been in the newspaper, posted here and on our website. We received no comments for or against the tax rate,” Angerstein said.

The public hearing was closed and the council was asked to consider approving a tax rate of $0.564 per $100 of property valuation.

A tax rate analysis provided by the city showed the 2021 certified taxable values came in at $300,284,672 with an average homeowner property value of $62,381.

Last year’s tax rate was $0.582529 per $100 of property valuation which yielded an average annual tax of $346.24, based on last year’s average homestead taxable value of $54,682.

The “no new revenue” tax rate (formerly known as the effective rate) came in at $0.55051 per $100 of taxable value and would yield an average annual tax rate of $346.24. This rate provides the same revenue as FY 2021 and does not increase or decrease an average homeowner’s annual property tax from the preceding tax year’s rate. The reason for an increase in actual dollars paid is because of an increase in property values.

The voter approval rate (formerly known as the rollback rate) would levy a tax of $0.564 per $100 of property valuation and generate an average annual tax of $351.83. This tax rate would provide a $69,542 increase in revenue for the city when compared to FY 2021 and would increase an average homeowner’s property tax by $33.29 ($351.83 – $318.54 = $33.29).

A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved to adopt the $0.564 tax rate. The tax rate is broken down into two components. The first is called the Maintenance and Operations (M&O) tax rate which provides funds for day-to-day maintenance and operations of the city. This part of the tax rate is comprised of $0.471647 or 83.6 percent.

The second part of the overall tax rate is called interest and sinking (I&S) tax rate. This provides funds for payments on the debt the city has incurred for capital purchases. The current tax burden for debt service on the average homeowner is $57.61. This part of the tax rate is comprised of $0.092353 or 16.4 percent.   

Prior to the tax discussion, the mayor said she had been thinking about all the things which happen in Crockett.

“Then I thought about all the council members who have donated their time talent and service to the city. I thought about the City Administrator and Mitzi (Thompson – City Secretary). We are so blessed to be in the city of Crockett with the people here who work so hard to make things work so well in Crockett. Sure, we have conversations – sometimes heated conversations – but at the end of the day, when you look around, you will see everyone has done a great job. I would like to take this moment to thank all of you for the hard work you are doing. Give yourself a hug, because you deserve it,” Dr. Fisher said.   

In other matters brought before the council:

• The minutes from the August 2 meeting were approved
• Crockett Police Chief Clayton Smith reported the police department received 443 calls for service during the month of July which resulted in 34 arrests. There were 97 traffic citations issued and 85 police reports filed.
• A presentation on ADA service animals was given to the council.
• The 2021 tax roll was approved by the council.

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].