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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrd 666 Levying the property taxes for Tax Year 2011-2012TOWN OF WESTLAKE ORDINANCE NO. 666 AN ORDINANCE OF THE TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF WESTLAKE, TEXAS LEVYING TAXES TO BE ASSESSED ON ALL TAXABLE PROPERTIES WITHIN THE TOWN LIMITS OF THE TOWN OF WESTLAKE FOR THE TAX YEAR 2011 (FISCAL YEAR 2011-2012); SETTING OUT EXEMPTIONS AND LIMITATION; NO STATE LAW STATEMENTS REQUIRED; PROVIDING FOR THE COLLECTION OF DELINQUENT TAXES AND A COLLECTION PENALTY TO BE ADDED TO DELINQUENT TAXES; PROVIDING FOR A SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND DECLARAING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. WHEREAS, a public hearing on the proposed annual budget for the Town of Westlake, Texas, for the fiscal year beginning on October 1, 2011 and ending on September 30, 2012, was duly advertised giving the date, time, place and subject matter of the public hearing, and WHEREAS, a public hearing was set by the Town Council in a duly posted Town Council meeting on September 12, 2011, and all citizens were invited to participate and be heard; and WHEREAS, all requirements of state law were met, including Open Meetings Act, Texas Government Code chapter 551 requirements and the requirement of Texas Local Government Code 102.002 that the budget officer prepare a municipal budget to cover the proposed expenditures of the municipal government for the succeeding year; and WHEREAS, it is deemed to be in the best interest of the citizens of the Town of Westlake, Texas to levy a tax as set forth below, on all taxable properties within the Town limits of Westlake in order to provide the necessary funds to provide municipal services to its citizens and to meet all municipal commitments; and WHEREAS, the Town of Westlake will not be raising more taxes for the 2011-2012 fiscal year than the amount that was raised for the 2010-2011 fiscal year; WHEREAS, the Town of Westlake has passed exemptions to certain applicable taxes which were previously adopted by earlier Resolution and recognized and adopted a tax limitation set out in the Town Municipal Code and such exemptions and limitation are included and adopted as part of this Ordinance; and WHEREAS, the Town Council finds the passage of this Ordinance to be in the best interest for the citizens of Westlake, for the preservation of public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the Town; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE TOWN COUNCIL OF THE TOWN OF WESTLAKE, TEXAS: Ordinance 666 Pagel of 4 SECTION 1: That all matters stated in the findings hereinabove are found to be true and correct and are incorporated herein by reference as if copied in their entirely. SECTION 2: That the Town Council of the Town of Westlake, Texas shall hereby levy the following taxes on each One Hundred Dollars ($100.00) of taxable valuation on all taxable property within the Town limits of the Town of Westlake, Texas to be assessed and collected by the Tax Assessor / Collector for the tax year 2011 (Fiscal year 2011-2012) for the purposes stipulated below, to -wit: (a) For General Fund Maintenance and Operations (M&O) levied on the $100.00 of taxable valuation: $0.13835 (b) For Interest and Sinking Fund (debt service) levied on $100.00 of taxable valuation: $0.01849 SECTION 3: Exemptions: That the Town Council authorizes the following exemptions and limitations: (a) Homestead exemption - That it is the intent of the Town Council of the Town of Westlake to adopt the highest possible homestead exemption, which would be a homestead exemption in the amount of twenty percent (20%) of the value of the homestead, and in any event, the exemption shall be at least a minimum of Five Thousand dollars ($5,000.00). For purposes of this section "residential homestead" is defined as a structure (including a mobile home) or a separately secured and occupied portion of a structure (together with land, no to exceed ten (10) acres, and improvements used in the residential occupancy of the structure and the land and improvements have identical ownership) that (1) is owned by one or more individuals, either directly or through a beneficial interest is a qualifying trust; (2) is designed or adapted for a human residence; (3) is used as a residence; and (4) is occupied as his or her principal residence by an owner or, for property owned through a beneficial interest in a qualifying trust, by a trustee of the trust who qualifies for the exemption. (b) Over 65 or Disabled exemption - That an exemption for a resident over 65 or disabled, pursuant to section 11.13(b) of the Texas Tax Code shall be authorized in the amount of $10,000.00. A resident is eligible for an exemption under this section if the resident is over 65 or disabled, but the resident shall not be entitled to two exemptions under this section, as set out in section 11.13(b) of the Texas Tax Code. (c) Freeport exemption - The Town elects not to tax that tangible personal property described in article VIII, section 1-j, subsection (a), Texas Constitution, and Texas Tax Code Section 11.251, which would otherwise be exempt, referred to as "Freeport goods." Ordinance 666 Page 2 of 4 (d) The Town of Westlake previously adopted an ad valorem tax limitation in section 86-2 of the Town Code, for elderly and disabled citizens according to Article VIII, Section 1-b of the Texas Constitution and Texas Tax Code § 11.261, which provides "The county, municipality, or junior college district may not increase the total annual amount of ad valorem taxes the county, municipality, or junior college district imposes on the residence homestead of a disabled individual or an individual 65 years of age or older above the amount of the taxes the county, municipality, or junior college district imposed on the residence homestead in the first tax year, other than a tax year preceding the tax year in which the county, municipality, or junior college district established the limitation described by Subsection (a), in which the individual qualified that residence homestead for the exemption provided by Section 11.13(c) for a disabled individual or an individual 65 years of age or older." This provision, commonly referred to as a "tax freeze" means that residents who are already eligible for the provisions of that section will not have any increase in their taxes from the time that they became eligible, as citizens of Westlake, for that section. SECTION 4: State Law Required Statements: (A) Because the Town of Westlake will not be raising more taxes this year than were raised in the prior year, the state law statements that are required to be made when more taxes are raised are not applicable to the Town of Westlake for this upcoming fiscal year. (B) The tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year will be reduced to $0.15684 (M & O of $0.13835 and interest and sinking fund of $0.01849 totaling $0.15684). The taxes raised for maintenance and operations will be approximately $110.68 on a $100,000 home with a homestead exemption. SECTION 5: The Town of Westlake will pursue collection of delinquent taxes and adopts the provisions of Section 33.07 of the Texas Tax Code so that hereafter an additional penalty of Twenty (20) percent of the delinquent tax, penalty and interest on delinquent taxes will be imposed on taxes becoming delinquent as provided by the Texas Tax Code and the Town's collection agreement. SECTION 6: If any portion of this Ordinance shall, for any reason, be declared invalid by any court of competent jurisdiction, such invalidity shall not affect the remaining provisions hereof and the Council hereby determines that it would have adopted this Ordinance without the invalid provision. Ordinance 666 Page 3 of 4 SECTION 7: That this Ordinance shall become effective from and after its date of passage. PASSED AND APPROVED ON THIS 12th DAX OF SEPTEMBER 2011. ATTEST: Kelly dwar(W, Town Secretary ZAPPROVELDS TO FO 7 n torney Laura L. Wheat, Mayor Thomas E. Br, own Manager �F)f A S Ordinance 666 Page 4 of 4