10-24-05 Regular Meeting of Fiscal Affairs Committee Minutes

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• Green, Shannon From: Alexander, Cynthia Sent: Wednesday, November 09, 2005 3:48 PM To: Green, Shannon Subject: FW: Sugar Land: council okays increase in over-65 and disabled exemptions For audit committee. c Original Message Sent: Thursday, August 25, 20051:31 AM Subject: Sugar Land: council okays increase in over-65 and disabled exemptions Sugar Land okays increase in over-age and disabled exemptions By Barbara Fulenwider Fort Bend/Southwest Star Even though one Sugar Land councilman opposes the policy to increase the over-65 and disabled persons exemptions each year that the city can afford to, and another wants the policy revisited, council approved a $2,857 increase in the exemption at their Aug. 16 meeting. What that means for the 2,611 residents it applies to is they will pay ~9 less on their city property tax bill for 2005. The homestead exemption for 2004 was $64,800 and will go up to $67, 727 and is in addition to the $5,000 minimum homestead exemption all homeowners in Sugar Land get. The total result in tax savings for seniors and the disabled, with the $5,000 exemption, will be $231. Dorothy Painter, revenue director, told council the exemption would take X7.4 million of taxable value off the city's certified tax rolls and cost the city a total of $23,655 in revenues. She said the average tax bill for Sugar Land seniors is $423.68 compared to an average tax bill of Texas cities of $927.76 on a home valued at X200,000. The purpose of the policy is to keep ever-rising taxes from badly impacting those on fixed incomes. Because property values increase annually, tax bills increase, so a tax break for seniors and the disabled is aimed at helping them to afford to stay in their homes. Councilman Russell Jones noted against the exemption in keeping with his consistency of having done so since council's policy was adopted. At council's Aug. 2 meeting, when the increase in the exemption was first on council's agenda, Jones explained why. He said, "The exemption we grant is the second highest of cities in our comparable group in the state. We're already at the top of the exemption list, so we don't have any