News
BY CONNOR PITTMAN, CELIE PRICE & CODY THORN
Southlake CCPD budget increases public safety
The Southlake Crime Control and Pre- vention District approved the operating budget for scal year 2023-24 on Sept. 5. The budget will include expanding the number of school resource o cers on Carroll ISD campuses. There are 19 o cers in the district, including a captain, a sergeant and a corporal. Chief Financial O cer Sharen Jackson said the new budget plans are to improve the safety and security standards with new technology, and keep the police well trained and properly equipped. A closer look The proposed budget expenditures are $2.2 million, not including the capital project funding of $334,500, which will be used to relocate the Emergency Operations Center to the rst level of the Department of Public Safety Headquarters. The budget will use $1.88 million to continue to fund the city’s school resource o cers, $49,000 for the Southlake Town Square security initiative and $281,250 for additional items: • $106,000 to replace the rearms • $93,250 to add another SRO • $32,000 to replace the evidence refrigerator • $30,000 to purchase an additional six vehicle radios • $20,000 for K-9 dog decoy training
A Tesla charging station was installed at Northwest Crossing earlier this year in Grapevine.
Moratorium on nonresidential EV chargers approved Grapevine City Council approved a temporary ban on the installation of new or replacement of existing electrical vehicle chargers or charging equipment in nonresidential uses and zoning districts.
equipment has come from direction from both council and the Grapevine Planning and Zoning Commission, Marohnic said, with requests from businesses and developers. The context More charging stations and equipment have been requested recently, Marohnic said, which is also re ected in city documents. One of the more recent requests was for 12 charging stations, compared to two in the inaugural 2011 request. What’s next? According to Marohnic, city sta continues to make progress on developing de nitions and zoning uses. Once the guidelines are developed, they will be presented during a joint meeting with the Grape- vine Planning and Zoning Commission and council.
The six-month moratorium approved during the Sept. 5 meeting took immediate e ect and will allow sta more time to design de nitions and zoning uses for chargers and other equipment. The overview Since 2011, about 64 electrical vehicle charging stations have gone through the city’s permitting or site plan amendment process, Director of Planning Services Erica Marohnic said. However, city sta are aware there are many more charging stations in the city, she added. The push to codify de nitions and de ne zoning uses of electrical vehicle chargers and charging
Southlake council approves budget with lower tax rate
Southlake property tax rate $0.5 $0.4
keeping the 20% homestead exemption. The changes will cost the city around $9.3 million compared to last year’s rates. An average house with a $1 million valuation would see an annual tax bill of $2,600, CFO Sharen Jackson said. In a nutshell Jackson said the budget was a little more than $142 million, an 8.2% increase from FY 2022-23. The city will also be paying more for water and wastewater according to documents.
For the sixth year in a row, Southlake taxpayers will see a lower tax rate than the prior year. Council approved the proposed rate of $0.319 per $100 valuation during the Sept. 5 meeting while also approving the scal year 2023-24 budget. The tax rate will provide 83% of the revenue for the budget and 17% will go toward debt service. The tax rate for FY 2022-23 was $0.36 per $100 of valuation. Tax statements will be generated after Oct. 1 and will re ect a property tax reduced by $0.04 compared to FY 2022-23. The proposed budget also includes
$0.2 $0.3 $0.1 $0
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