Page 5 - TownofWestlakeFY26BudgetOrd1029

FISCAL & BUDGETARY POLICIES
The Town’s fiscal and budgetary policies address the Town’s operating budgets, revenue management,
expenditure control, fund balance/retained earnings, debt management, grants, economic development, audits,
internal controls, and asset management. These policies are included in our annual budget document for residents
to review and staff to use as a guiding set of principles each year.

BUDGET PRINCIPLES
The Town’s budget principles for sound fiscal management include:

 Plan, manage, and fund debt service and related service delivery programs;
 Maintain fund balance in accordance with the policy and future obligations;
 Oversee facilities and infrastructure;
 Provide exceptional and responsive public services; and
 Provide competitive employee compensation.

PROPERTY TAX

The approved municipal property tax rate (or ad valorem rate) will increase the current adopted rate of
$0.16788 per $100 of assessed valuation to $0.18500 per $100. This rate is slightly higher (by $0.00597) than
the no-new-revenue rate, which is the total tax rate needed to generate the same amount of property tax
revenue for the Town from the same properties between the 2025 tax year and the 2026 tax year. This is also
the first increase to the rate since 2020.

This budget adheres to direction the Council gave to adjust the tax rate for newly issued certificates of obligation,
appropriate and adopt an updated capital improvement plan, and focus on best practices. These directives help
ensure we plan for the Town’s financial stability and are better prepared to meet the service delivery expectations
of our community. Our approach to both revenue estimating and expenditure requests continue to proceed in a
fiscally conservative manner and still allow Westlake the ability to exceed expectations of our residents.

The ad valorem tax is allocated between Maintenance and Operations (M&O) in the General Fund and Interest
and Sinking (I&S) debt service for the Town. The allocation for M&O is $0.13000 and the projected revenue totals
$3.3M. The allocation for I&S debt service is $0.05500 and the projected revenue totals $1.4M. Please see the tax
rate change below:

Tax Rate Change FY25 FY26
Adopted Adopted Variance
M&O $0.11788 $0.13000 $0.01220
I&S $0.05000 $0.05500 $0.00500
Total $0.16788 $0.18500 $ 0.01712

3