Posted on 06/07/2006 9:45:36 AM PDT by anymouse
FRIENDSWOOD — Property owners wanting a tax refund from the city in July will have to wait a bit longer. Refund proponents promised the check’s almost in the mail.
Despite Mayor David Smith’s concerns that the city’s financial health could be jeopardized, late Monday the city council approved moving ahead with a plan that will eventually mean 10 percent refunds for property owners.
Details of how the refund would be implemented were still to be worked out, but the city could have a guide in the North Texas town of Farmers Branch, which has made similar rebates twice, acting City Manager Roger Roecker said.
A Friendswood homeowner who paid the city $500 in city property taxes in 2005 would get $50 back from the city.
Council did not approve the refund during its marathon meeting Monday, but in a 4-3 vote the tax refund train started rolling down the track.
But not without some adjustments to councilman Jay Horecky’s original proposal, which had pushed for refund checks to be mailed by July 1.
First Roecker is to come up with an estimate on the total cost of the refund.
Initial estimates from Horecky and others who support the refund indicate that the city could return nearly $1.2 million in tax refunds.
That amount, said Horecky, is $200,000 less than the city could afford to rebate to property tax payers.
He also said the money would not cut into the city’s reserve funds, as Smith had predicted.
“We are talking about $1.4 million more than is needed for the reserve,” said Horecky, who also compromised in agreeing to give city staff until Sept. 1 to figure how to implement the refund.
The ordinance is for city property taxes only.
Councilwoman Laura Ewing, who, along with Smith and Councilman Mel Measeles, voted against the refund, said residents she had spoken with urged her not to support it.
“They told me the city could spend this money better than they could,” she told council.
But refund supporters scoffed at that, calling Smith’s concerns a “fear tactic.”
Horecky even offered that anyone who was worried the refund would bust the city budget was “more than welcome to send the money back as a donation to the city.”
Galveston County tax relief ping.
We were disappointed not to get a super-majority on council, but a majority seems to be working out just fine.
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