Preliminary Wilmer tax rate voted down

WILMER – While it is still in the adjustment phase, the Wilmer city council voted 4 – 1 in a roll call vote last Thursday that said no to a .5 cent tax rate increase.

The new tax rate presented was $0.5629. The current rate is $0.5129.

“The proposed rate is five cents higher than the current rate, but eight cents lower than the effective rate,” Wilmer Interim City Administrator Dr. John Hubbard said.

“Next steps will be to cut services if the proposed tax rate is not adopted.”

A roll-call vote was required of the governing body because council was being asked to consider the new tax rate that would result in an increase in total tax revenues from properties on the tax roll in the previous year.

Wilmer City Councilmember Candy Madrigal, who has sat on the Wilmer city council eight years and was the lone yes vote said, “In my opinion, Dallas County gave us the numbers for the rollback, and we should do this now – because we might not be able to raise it in the future.”

Six-year Wilmer City Councilmember Sergio Campos said he voted against the tax rate increase because he did not believe staff presented enough information for him to give his nod of approval.

“I didn’t feel comfortable,” Campos said, adding he is open to voting yes if he sees the correct organization and believes this is what constituents want.

There could also be a change in the taxes due to the new school being built in Wilmer, which affects Dallas ISD taxes as well.

One of the changes identified overall that will come back for another vote is the .3 cent raises across the board. Madrigal said these raises were only for employees who had been with the city for more than a year.

It was also said this increase would help the city hire and retain police and fire department personnel who currently use Wilmer as a training ground before heading to an agency offering higher pay rates.

Dr. Hubbard reminded too, 88-percent of the taxes are paid by the companies located in the city.

“We have a responsibility to the citizens to offer the services needed, a responsibility to the employees, and there is an infrastructure that is crumbling,” Dr. Hubbard added.

“The change in the effective rate is still .14 cents under what the rollback is now.”

Two public hearings are required in regards to the city’s new fiscal year tax rate.

One public hearing was held last Thursday. A second public hearing will be held this Thursday, Aug. 29 at 7 p.m. at the Wilmer Community Center.

The Dallas Central Appraisal District released the certified values of properties within the City of Wilmer on July 27, 2019.

This was the data used to calculate an effective rate and roll back rates for the 2019/2020 fiscal year for Wilmer.