On Tuesday, Wichita Falls City Council members were presented with a proposal from the city’s chief financial officer that would give police an 11 percent raise and all other employees a 5 percent raise, and would use a property tax increase to finance the raise.
In the run-up to the adoption of the budget for the coming fiscal year, city councilors initially considered granting all city employees – including police – a flat salary increase of four percent.
But at a budget workshop on Aug. 6, representatives of the Wichita Falls Police Officers Association made a passionate plea for higher salaries to recruit and retain police officers, arguing that if nothing is done, the city could face a public safety crisis.
Association representative Sgt. John Spragins called for an increase of 15 to 16 percent.
CFO Stephen Calvert went back to the drawing board to find more money for the police. The city will generate $2,921,407 in additional revenue next year compared to the current year due to increased property values. Calvert recommended using this money for salaries.
On Tuesday, he also recommended setting the property tax rate at 0.6848 per $100 of property tax value, rather than the current 0.6800. This would put the rate just below the threshold at which voters would automatically have to approve it.
That would generate an additional $3.4 million in revenue. For the owner of a $100,000 home, that would mean an increase of $4.80 per year, he said.
This would be an increase in the rate, as opposed to a slight decrease that outgoing City Manager Darron Leiker proposed in an original budget.
The City Council will vote in September on a final tax rate and budget that will take effect on October 1.
In addition, at Tuesday’s meeting, city councilors approved an amended ordinance that again allows private companies to provide roll-off containers to private households. A 2022 ordinance prohibited private companies from providing the roll-off containers and gave the city sole authority to offer the service.
In addition, councillors heard passionate appeals from some residents of the exclusive Canyon Trails residential area near Seymour Highway to stop a developer from building new homes on three lots.
The land was never developed and was used as green space for years. The city’s Planning and Zoning Commission voted to allow housing development, but the City Council had the final say and voted to ban it.
