Page 10 - HaltomCityFY26Budget

The “No-New Revenue Tax Rate” (previously termed “Effective Rate”) refers to the tax rate needed to raise
the same amount of maintenance and operations property taxes on existing properties as the previous
year. The “Voter-Approval Tax Rate” is the rate necessary to increase the “No-New Revenue Rate” by
three and a half percent (3.5%) more maintenance and operations tax revenue than the previous year. If
the proposed adopted rate exceeded the three and a half percent (3.5%), known as the ‘Voter Approval
Rate”, the City would be required to hold an automatic election. Unfortunately, the SB2’s cap of 3.5% is
less than the inflation rate in the DFW area over the last several years according to the Consumer Price
Index of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This methodology of capping the tax rate does not correlate
with inflation. Several years of an inflation rate higher than the cap of property tax revenue will prevent
cities from sustaining some services due to higher costs of goods and services.

Sales tax is another significant revenue source for the city, with over $22 million in collections predicted
for FY 2025-2026. Due to the types of businesses that make up our sales tax base, as of June 2025, the
Sales and Use Tax revenues have continued to increase year over year. The City receives 2% sales tax,
and the allocation is 1.375% for General Fund, 0.375% for Streets, and 0.25% for the Crime Control and
Prevention District.

The expenses consist of two major components. The first is the base budget. The base budget provides
each department and division with similar funding as the prior fiscal year, less any one-time costs. The
base budget also includes all capital projects, equipment replacements, and non-discretionary items such
as necessary price adjustments and commitments.

The second component consists of decision package requests. Decision package requests are submitted
for items that will result in a change in the current level of service, including the addition of new programs,
new equipment and new personnel. Decision packages have been presented in budget workshops and
were included in the Preliminary and the Proposed Budget Book. The accepted decision packages are
reflected in the Adopted Budget and support the City Council’s priorities and goals.

MAJOR PRIORITIES

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Three major economic development focuses for the city are Loop 820, Highway 377, and the Belknap
Corridors. These corridors promise the most advantageous locations to promote our overall community
revitalization and new development.

Our three-pronged approach of job-creating industries, new residential neighborhoods, and holding to
our development codes have proven to be a successful strategy because the plan has brought us record
economic growth. This approach will serve as a catalyst to obtain more restaurants, retail, etc. Below is a
list of our current developments: