GOVERNMENT Cities of Sugar Land, Missouri City approve FY 2022-23 budgets
BY RENEE FARMER & HUNTER MARROW
nearly 10% increase due to the corresponding increase in property values. The average resi- dential tax bill will increase by $100 from last year’s bill. Missouri City Missouri City residents will pay $0.57375 per $100 valuation in property taxes to the city. That tax rate is made up of a maintenance and oper- ations rate of $0.431981 and a debt service rate of $0.141769. The total tax rate was reduced by 0.74% compared to last year from $0.578035 to $0.57375. Though the rate was lowered, rising property values and the addition of new properties mean Missouri City will generate $53.2 million in prop- erty tax revenue, an increase from the revenue raised from last year’s rate, Missouri City Finan- cial Services Director Allena Portis said. For the city’s revenue, Missouri City sees a 16.6% increase in revenue and a 4.4% decrease in expen- ditures from FY 2021-22. “For the general fund, this is intentional,” Portis said. “This is us spending some of our fund bal- ance on one-time expenditures. For other funds, it is spending fund balance such as bond proceeds or other fund balance that’s been collected for future projects.” Revenue and transfers in for the city’s general fund—the fund supporting the city’s operating expenses—is projected at $63.5 million, a 6.3% increase from last year’s budget. The city is pro- jecting $72.6 million in expenditures and transfers out from the general fund, a 3.1% increase. Missouri City’s budget supports a net increase of 27 full-time employees, bringing the total number of full-time city employees to 428. Five are in the fire department, and four are in the police department, interim City Manager Sedrick Cole said. The budget also includes the addition of six full-time positions in public works and eight positions in the parks and recreation department, in addition to $2 million to address salaries.
The cities of Sugar Land and Missouri City approved their fiscal year 2022-23 budgets in mid-September with both cities facing increased revenues. During its Sept. 20 meeting, Sugar Land City Council approved a budget with revenue and transfers totaling $418.5 million. Missouri City City Council, meanwhile, approved a budget with revenue and transfers totaling $193.4 million. Sugar Land Sugar Land will keep last year’s tax rate and invest $99 million in capital projects in the upcoming fiscal year. The city projects $382 million in expenditures in the upcoming fiscal year, including $282.8 million for operating funds and $99.2 million for capital projects. “That’s a significant investment, and those projects will pay dividends going forward for the community,” Director of Budget and Strategy Scott Butler said during the meeting. Butler said the city aims to make strategic investments in its highest-priority areas in the upcoming fiscal year: reliable infrastructure, qual- ity of life, champion workforce and public safety. Sugar Land also adopted its five-year capital improvements program totaling nearly $297 million planned from 2023-27 with $42.6 million allocated for drainage and $21.1 million for streets in 2023. The city also approved its FY 2022-23 tax rate of $0.3465 per $100 valuation at the meeting. The rate includes $0.200061 for maintenance and operations and $0.146439 for debt service. This presents no increase from last year’s rate. However, Sugar Land shifted approximately $0.009 from the maintenance and operations rate to the debt service rate to accelerate drainage, street and public safety projects from the voter-approved 2019 general obligation bond, Butler said. The rate will raise more revenue from property taxes than last year’s budget by $5.7 million, a
AN INCREASE IN REVENUES
The cities of Sugar Land and Missouri City have experienced increased revenues over the last year with total revenues for the two cities now reaching over $548 million.
Charges for service $115.9M, 30.6% Other revenues $60.9M, 16.1% Property tax $60.7M, 16.1% Sales tax $57.5M, 15.3% SUGAR LAND MAJOR REVENUE SOURCES
Total: $378M
Bond proceeds $74.3M, 19.7%
Other taxes $8.5M, 2.3%
MISSOURI CITY MAJOR REVENUE SOURCES
Total: $170M
Property tax $58.7M, 34.5% Other sources $52.4M, 30.9% Charges for service $28.2M, 16.6% Sales tax $17.7M, 10.4% Franchise revenue $4.2M, 2.5%
Licenses and permits $4.2M, 2.5% Grants $4.5M, 2.7%
SOURCES: CITY OF SUGAR LAND, CITY OF MISSOURI CITY/ COMMUNITY IMPACT
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SUGAR LAND - MISSOURI CITY EDITION • OCTOBER 2022
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