The Orange City Council agreed to keep the effective tax rate for a second year in a row. The rate, based on property tax appraisals, is a fraction of a penny more than the current rate and will be 71 cents per $100 value. City Manager Dr. Shawn Oubre said this will be the fifth year in a row with no tax increase. The tax rate has gone down in the past few years from a high of 84 cents per $100 valuation.
“We have been blessed. The last four years we have not had to raise taxes to operate the city and it’s about to catch up with us,” City Manager Shawn Oubre said.
The council met Wednesday in another budget workshop and had to balance expenses and income. For instance, the police department requested four new SUVs for patrol, but the city is buying only three. Also in a move to save money, the council agreed to delay repaving Dawnwood Street and Sunset Drive. The planned new playground equipment at Ridgemont Park will be put off until another year. Lions Den Park will not get a new pavilion, either.
Oubre told the council a tax increase may be needed next year to keep up with equipment purchases and operations.
The city manager and staff will present the formal proposed budget to the council on August 15. The city charter requires the proposed budget be completed 45 days before the end of the current fiscal year.
The council will hold a public hearing and vote twice on the budget during September. The budget takes effect on October 1.
Last week in a workshop, the council agreed to put a fence up along the 16th Street side of Sunset Park. District 3 Councilor Essie Bellfield has been pushing for the fence to keep children from running into the busy thoroughfare.
Wednesday, the council agreed to spend more money for a decorative fence with vertical bars rather than a chain-link fence. The fence will cost $22,500 for 350 linear feet to go along 16th Street and about 25 feet along the side streets.
The new budget will also have $20,000 for a new Christian nativity scene and more holiday decorations to represent other beliefs. Oubre suggested the city pay for the display rather than take donations. “If you go that route, you may not like who donates,” he said. When the city pays for the display, “you control who’s in it, who’s out of it,” he said.
The new budget will include a 2 percent cost of living raise for employees. Firefighters and police are under the third and last year of collective bargaining contracts with increases.
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