Despite the “sorption” of some members of the Arlington City Council regarding the one-cent city property tax increase, members voted to move forward with the proposal.
The City Council spent four hours Tuesday afternoon discussing the city’s proposed $772 million budget in detail, focusing on alternatives to tax increases that the city could use to cover the costs of new or expanded services, expanding police and fire services, and basic city operating costs.
City Manager Trey Yelverton presented options that would allow the city to maintain its current tax rate: delaying or cutting salary increases for city staff, canceling a planned “Clean Team” program in Arlington, or implementing a $3.25 monthly “Clean Fee” to fund the initiative.
The Clean Team initiative is the only substantially new program proposed in the 2025 budget, Yelverton said. The four-person team would address projects such as broken curbs, fallen trees and abandoned or knocked over street signs.
“I’m not talking about the neighborhoods back there, but up and down Cooper Street, Matlock, Bowen – the big neighborhoods,” he said.
The budget for the initiative is $498,265.
The cleanup fee, which would have raised the $4.1 million the city expects to make from the one-cent tax increase, would apply to residents and commercial property owners regardless of their tax-exempt status.
Yelverton said those options – particularly delaying a pay rise – would “put the issue on the back burner.”
“If you wait three months this year, you’ll save three months, but you’ll make it all back next year. If you’re going to do it, it’s better to just do it, but it’s still a strategy,” Yelverton said.
Council members approved, by a vote of 8 to 1, a resolution setting the tax rate at 0.5998 per $100 of value on first reading and calling a public hearing on the adjustment on Sept. 10. 4th District Councilman Andrew Piel was the only vote against the resolution.
Piel said after the meeting that there are other options the city could explore, including delaying the fire department’s transition to a four-person staffing level and increasing traffic enforcement tickets.
“People are under financial pressure on their homes because of inflation and I’m getting calls from people who are having trouble paying their tax bills,” he said.
During Tuesday’s meeting and the first budget presentation on Aug. 6, Piel said he was struggling with the decline in the city’s revenue from fines and the number of fines issued.
According to a budget presentation released Tuesday, the city issued more than 150,000 tickets in 2009. City staff estimate that Arlington departments, including police and enforcement, will issue 46,000 of them in fiscal year 2025.
“It really saddens me to see the decrease in traffic tickets … and I have to sit here and think about a $4.1 million tax increase. If we just did what we’re supposed to do and what our citizens want us to do, there would be a little more money in the coffers and the city would be safer,” he said.
Mayor Jim Ross asked why the Department of Budget’s budget had not changed in proportion to the state budget.
“Why are we still spending so much money to handle only a quarter of the cases we did in 2009?” asked Ross.
Assistant City Manager Jennifer Wichmann said 14 years ago, the city court experienced a years-long backlog of cases. Changes in state law in 2016 also led to changes in laws on fines and court costs, requiring more of the officers’ time and resources.
“I don’t want to deny that the overall workload has changed,” said Wichmann.
Wichmann said she and Police Chief Al Jones continue to discuss ways to increase traffic safety beyond mere surveillance.
Yelverton also proposed approximately $121,809 in additional cuts, in addition to the $3.1 million in cuts and reallocations proposed in the first budget. Other cuts include a senior office assistant in the city attorney’s office, 10% of part-time salaries in the city justice department, a clerk for the city court and reduced hours for police bailiffs.
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