Page 245 - Southlake FY24 Budget

The Relationship Between Property Taxpayers and Debt
Repayment

At 31.9 cents for every one hundred dollars of valuation, the City of Southlake’s property tax rate supports
basic city services such as public safety, street maintenance, library and community services. It also
helps pay off the debt that’s been incurred for city infrastructure such as new roadway construction and
expansion.

Figure 4 (below) illustrates how the City has worked toward the goals of reducing debt. The green Debt Service
portions show that since 2014, the City has reduced the amount of property taxes which are dedicated
to debt repayment while still providing desired services. Taxpayers, specifically homeowners, should be
aware of the conscious effort to relieve the amount of property tax monies that are going towards debt.
This effort represents one of the City’s most important budget commitments.

Since 1994, the City has put voter-authorized sales tax dollars to work on the upkeep and construction of
Southlake’s beautiful parks system. The sales tax monies help with the initial cash payments that jump-
start many of our big projects. In 1998, another portion of sales tax, also voter-authorized, was put to
work for the construction of our public safety buildings. All of that debt was retired in 2017. Recently,
the City incurred more sales tax supported debt to construct Phase 2 of the Marq, known as Champions
Club. However, it is important to note that this debt is being repaid through a 3/8 cent allocation of sales
tax, a voter-authorized use that was approved in 2015. The bronze colored portion of the bar shows how
the two current sales tax district monies (SPDC and CEDC) are paying off the balance of projects like
Bicentennial Park and Champions Club.

Finally, the portion in tan illustrates the debt that is being paid off by the City’s specialized funds and
Southlake’s tax incremental reinvestment zone (TIRZ). The TIRZ is located primarily in Southlake Town
Square and is based on commercial property taxes. This debt was retired in 2018.

Figure 4 Southlake’s Debt per Capita

DEBT PER CAPITA THAT IS REPAID WITH OTHER SOURCES SUCH AS UTILITY FUND AND TIF DISTRICT*
DEBT PER CAPITA THAT IS REPAID WITH VOTER-APPROVED SALES TAX DISTRICTS
DEBT PER CAPITA THAT IS REPAID WITH PROPERTY TAXES
$9,000

$8,000

$7,000
$2,847
$6,000
$2,560
$1,800
$5,000 $2,419
$1,662
$1,927
$4,000 $2,135 $1,407
$1,737 $1,287
$3,000 $1,464 $2,645 $1,111 $1,000 $877
$1,249 $2,429
$2,138
$2,000 $1,974 $1,396
$1,765 $1,590
$2,895 $2,678
$1,000 $2,340 $2,019
$1,706 $1,449
$1,160 $923 $772 $923 $1,179
$-
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023* 2024**
*ALL DEBT TO ATTRIBUTED TO THE TAX INCREMENTAL REINVESTMENT ZONE (TIRZ) WAS RETIRED IN 2018.
FY 2024 City of Southlake | Budget Book 245