Page 155 - City of Westlake FY20 Budget

Section 3
General Fund Overview

residents to reduce some of the tax assessments through programs available by law. These include the use
of the homestead exemption, disabled and senior exemptions, homestead tax ceiling, and the use of
property tax reduction funds.

Homestead Exemption
• This is an exemption offered by the Town which reduces the taxable value of all homes by 20%,
which is the maximum amount allowed under the law.

Additional 65+ or Disabled Exemption
• A $10,000 exemption on the taxable value of homes of 65+ or disabled residents. (The allowance
categories are for 65+ or disabled and cannot be combined by law).

Homestead Tax Ceiling
• Limits the total amount of taxes residents who are 65+ or disabled pay so that in future years their
taxes will not increase beyond what they are currently paying (except in the event a resident makes
major renovations or expands the square footage of their home).
• Any resident that was 65 when Westlake adjusted its ad valorem rate from $0.0 in 2010, will not pay
any municipal ad valorem taxes due to this tax ceiling.
• If a resident turned 65 this year, then the amount they paid this year in municipal ad valorem taxes
would remain fixed at that amount (except as noted above). They will not pay more but could
potentially pay less if taxes are lowered.

Property Tax Reduction
• In October of 2006, the residents of Westlake voted to abolish one-half of one percent (½%) of
additional sales and use tax for economic and industrial development, Section 4A, and to implement
one-half of one percent (½%) of local sales and use tax to be used to reduce the property tax rate.
This option is used by more than thirty (30) municipalities in the state of Texas with the exact amount
of the reduction being printed on our annual tax statements for each resident and corporate partner.

• Prior year’s sales tax revenues are used in calculating the current tax rates based on the State
Comptroller’s Truth and Taxation process.
• Current calculations of Westlake’s tax rate take these revenues into consideration and saves our
residents approximately $0.14 off the ad valorem (property tax) rate per $100 valuation.

All Other Revenue Sources
Investment Earnings: Budgeted to remain flat at $278K.

Permits and Fees - Other: Budgeted to be $197K; a 21% decrease of $53K from prior year estimated. This
account type includes fees charged by the Town for gas wells, EMS revenues, review and renewal fees,
developments fees and contractor registration fees.

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