Flower Mound authorities released the city’s anticipated budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year ahead of budget season.
The proposal, published online, will ultimately be subject to a vote by the town council on September 18. But before that, a budget workshop will take place on August 17, and a public hearing will be held on August 21.
Various suggestions were made in the proposed budget, including:
- Raising the homestead exemption from 10% to 12.5%.
- Increasing the over 65 years/disabled exemption from $100,000 to $150,000.
- Lowering the town’s property tax rate to $0.3873 from last year’s $0.405.
These cuts have been made possible by a projected increase in revenue from property taxes of 4.91% compared to last year, for a total of $2,887,950. This includes the addition of $1,527,586 in property taxes from homes added to the tax roll this year.
According to data from Redfin, the housing market in Flower Mound is very competitive. The median price of houses sold has seen a year-over-year increase of 9% to $665,000 as of June. Over 45% of homes were sold above the listing price over that same period, although this figure has dropped by over 27 points.
Overall, Flower Mound’s proposed budget includes revenues totaling $206.1 million and expenditures of $208.1 million.
The town’s proposed budget currently sits at an estimated $92.6 million in revenue and $88 million in expenditure for the general fund. Roughly 68% of the general fund includes staffing costs.
Town Manager James Childers told Community Impact that Flower Mound was “very fortunate.”
“We’re a community that, even though it’s kind of plateauing, we have strong sales tax. We’re in good shape compared to a lot of other communities. The budget process is tough every year because you have more needs than you have available funds,” Childers continued.
Some of the ways taxpayer dollars might be spent in the coming fiscal year include increasing wages for town employees, continuing infrastructure upgrades, developing municipal facilities and parks, and maintaining reserve levels per financial regulations.
As Childers explained, a market study recently commissioned by the town found that personnel shortages were down to the wages not being competitive enough, according to Community Impact.
“We just want to make sure that, one, we’re in a position to retain the good employees that we have but also in a position to recruit,” Childers said.
Expected job openings will be across all departments, including at Town Hall.
“There’s going to be a smattering of positions across the organization, but there are not any that I would call quote-unquote sexy positions,” Childers specified.
A recent budget workshop held by the Richardson City Council similarly included initiatives to bump up personnel wages, as previously reported in The Dallas Express. For instance, one proposal was to add a “merit-based market adjustment” for police officers, fire personnel, and other employees of up to 5%.
To offset these raises, Richardson’s proposed budget includes a utility rate hike for taxpayers for services like water and sewage.
