Page 18 - Southlake FY24 Budget

Service Delivery Excellence
The City of Southlake is committed to providing residents, businesses, and visitors with high-quality, high-

value public services.

Figure 5 is the City of Southlake’s organizational chart, showing the departments and reporting
relationships. The City Manager’s Office works closely with departments to implement strategy and

provide excellent service to the community in adherence to city values. See the City Department
Overview section of the budget for more information.

Financial Information and Fund Summaries
Transmittal Letter
The City’s budget is made up of specific funds to account for the revenue and expenditures that support
operations. Funds also account for debt incurred for capital improvements. There are funds supported
by tax revenue, while others are supported by fees that have been put into place to cover the cost of the
service. Some funds are restricted for specific purposes, while others offer more spending flexibility.

This letter is organized to describe each fund and to highlight key aspects of the budget for each.

General Fund

The General Fund is the city’s principle operating fund, and is supported by property tax, sales tax,
fees, and other revenue. General Fund revenue may be used for a variety of purposes, and this budget
accounts for core City services such as police and fire protection, engineering, planning, finance, and
administrative oversight.

Tax rate. The FY 2024 adopted budget incorporates a tax rate of $0.319 per $100 valuation, reducing the
rate by over four cents. The tax rate of $0.319 is split between General Fund operations and debt service.
The allocation for FY 2024 is $0.264 for general operations and $0.055 for debt service. The reduction

has been taken from both the operations and debt service part of the rate.

The ongoing use of the 20% homestead exemption will complement the current over-65 exemption
of $75,000, disabled exemption of $75,000, and the over-65 tax freeze. The continuation of these

exemptions offers additional tax relief.

A 20% homestead exemption will reduce the taxable value of an average-valued home in Southlake by
$201,479. The property owner of an average-valued home will see the equivalent of a tax rate reduction of

approximately six cents per $100 valuation with the exemption applied.

With the homestead exemption in place, and considering the tax rate reduction, the equivalent residential
tax rate on an average-valued home is $0.255.

18 FY 2024 City of Southlake | Budget Book