By LEW K. COHN, Inquirer Publisher

The Gonzales City Council will consider an ordinance to adopt a no-revenue tax rate of 29.66 cents per $100 of value at its meeting on Thursday, Sept. 12 at 6 p.m., as well as a proposed budget for fiscal year 2024-25 that calls for expenditures of over $36.1 million and revenues of over $31.3 million.

The proposed tax rate is 0.28 cents higher than last year’s rate of 29.38 cents per $100 of value. The tax rate without new revenue is a calculated rate that would provide the city with approximately the same amount of revenue as the year before for properties taxed in both years.

All four council members (Joseph “Poochy” Kridler, Mariah Jordan, Ronda Miller and Lorenzo Hernandez) voted in favor of proposing this rate, while Mayor SH “Steve” Sucher voted against it.

The average taxable value of a home in Gonzales increased from $152,668 to $162,302, an increase of 6.31 percent. The tax on the average home will increase from $448.54 last year to $481.39 this year, an increase of $32.85, or 7.32 percent. The total tax levy for all properties will increase by about $40,766, or 2.28 percent, from $1,788,940 to $1,829,706.

The budget for fiscal year 2024-25 is divided into 13 different funds. Six of these are the General Fund (including JB Wells), power, water, sewer, solid waste, and debt service. All of these funds are expected to spend more in fiscal year 2024-25 than in fiscal year 2023-24.

The other seven are special funds for tourism, the Gonzales Memorial Museum Fund, the Forfeiture Fund, the Municipal Court Fund, the Robert L. Brothers Library Fund, the PEG Franchise Activities Fund and economic development. Aside from a $500 increase to the Municipal Court Fund, all funds are expected to be at or below their budget amount from last year.

The 2024-25 budget calls for total expenditures of $36,121,645, an increase of $2,782,267, or 8.35 percent, from last year’s budgeted $33,339,378. It also calls for total revenues of $31,304,754, an increase of $1,531,921, or 5.15 percent, from the 2023-24 budgeted $29,772,833. The city is expected to use $4,816,891 of its $15,908,885 total fund assets to balance the budget, so the city will have total fund assets of $11,091,996 on Sept. 30, 2025.

The General Fund, which includes JB Wells Park, the Arena and the Expo, is expected to generate balanced revenues and expenses of $11,176,827, an increase of $352,826 over the previous fiscal year’s budgeted expenditures of $10,824,001.

The largest share of general budget spending is police, which is expected to spend $2,928,278, or 28 percent of the general budget if JB Wells is excluded, followed by fire, which is expected to spend $1,682,407, or 17 percent of the budget without JB Wells. Parks ($835,417, 8 percent), roads ($730,457, 8 percent) and finance ($682,930, 7 percent) are the next largest spending areas.

This year’s budget also includes spending of $229,971 for the Chamber of Commerce, including funds for salaries for four positions (executive director, two tourism coordinators and one administrative position).

JB Wells has projected expenses of $876,532 against revenue of $856,150. The lion’s share of JB Wells’ expenses are personnel costs ($468,393), operating costs ($251,760), and maintenance costs ($88,999), while the largest sources of revenue are RV park rentals ($174,290), the Texas Junior High Rodeo ($171,045), expo rental fees ($96,500), arena fees ($95,000), horse stall rentals ($70,000), and TYA stall rental fees ($52,500).

The Electric Fund is expected to generate revenue of $11,429,287 and spend $12,133,627, while the Water Fund will generate $3,277,140 and spend $3,678,453, and the Wastewater Fund will generate $1,826,500 and spend $2,280,529.

The Solid Waste Fund will generate revenue of $870,700 and incur expenditures of $877,280. The Debt Service Fund (DSF) is estimated to generate revenue of $836,550 and incur expenditures of $816,550.

Tourism is expected to generate $615,000 in revenue and $733,321 in expenses. The Memorial Museum is expected to generate $2,600 in revenue and $2,600 in expenses. The Forfeiture Fund is expected to generate $4,300 in revenue and $20,500 in expenses.

The Municipal Court Fund is expected to receive $2,600 in revenue and have $8,500 in expenses. The Robert L. Brothers Fund is expected to receive $56,400 and have only $23,100 in expenses. The PEG Franchise Fund is expected to receive $16,100 and have only $10,000 in expenses.

The Economic Development Fund will have revenues of $1,190,750 and expenses of $4,360,358, an increase from $2,903,275 last year. The largest increases will be in personnel (up $60,834 due to salary increases for the coordinator position and the director plus benefits), marketing and advertising (up $74,248), vehicles/equipment (up $45,000), infrastructure projects (up $350,000), business development (up $700,000) and the Main Street Program (up $162,210). The city will spend an additional $3,169,608 from the EDC Fund to make up the difference.