By ARABELLA SERRATA
Several cities across the Laguna Madre area have plans to increase tax rates for their areas. Port Isabel [PI], Laguna Vista [LV] and South Padre Island [SPI] are among them.
SPI recently released an official notice for a public hearing about the new tax rate. According to the notice, the proposed tax rate is $0.232159 per $100. This amount is higher than the No-New-Revenue tax rate: $0.227715 per $100, but lower than the Voter-Approval Tax Rate: $0.238426 per $100. Because the proposed tax rate is not greater than the Voter-Approval Tax, the city does not have to run an election for the public to vote. The release shows all of the city council members voted for the proposal.
The hearing was held during a meeting, in which no comments were made.
Taxes owed under any of the tax rates mentioned above can be calculated with the following equation: Property tax amount = (tax rate) * (taxable value of your property/100)
The PRESS spoke with Jared Hockema, PI City Manager, about the town’s new tax rate. Hockema said the rate is an increase, but only as a result of the many voter-approved projects that the area is undertaking. The M&O rate is set to decrease from 55 cents to 53, following the consistent decrease from previous years. The No-New-Revenue Rate is .639038, the Voter-Approval-Rate is 1.022450, and the dominus rate currently stands at 0.945453. The I&S rate is increasing from 14 cents to 24.
During an LV special town meeting on Aug. 14, a local named Natalie Ruiz spoke. She alleges that although LV may be attempting to say they are not increasing the tax rate, the fact they released a notice proves they are. She suggested that the city use the No-New-Revenue tax rate, $0.417692 per $100 compared to the proposed tax rate of $0.454124 per $100.
Another attendee at the meeting pointed out that other establishments would have to raise their taxes in response to LV and their new rate.
The PRESS attempted to reach out to LV City Manager Rendie Gonzalez regarding the tax rate, but was unable to contact her as of the time of publication.
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