Bonham, Texas -- Monday, August 26, 2019, Bonham City Council held the first of two public hearings regarding the proposed tax rate for the coming fiscal year.

"This is an opportunity for citizens to ask questions," stated Bonham City Manager Sean Pate.

Homebuilder Curtis Smith asked for an explanation of the formula that determines the proposed tax rate.

For the City of Bonham, the Current Tax Rate in the FY 2020 budget is .6864 per $100 of property value.

The first step is to calculate the Effective Rate, which would be the tax rate needed to bring in the same amount of revenue as the current year, not including new property added to the tax rolls.

The Effective Tax Rate for FY 2020 is .6185 per $100 of property value.

For cities, the rollback rate is the effective rate plus 8%.

In Bonham's budget, the Rollback Tax Rate for FY 2020 is .6550 per $100 of property value.

At a budget workshop held Tuesday, August 20, City of Bonham staff recommended a proposed tax rate of .6550 per $100 of property value for FY 2020, which would be a reduction from the current rate of .6864 per $100 of property value.

The proposed tax rate would result in an increase of taxable revenue of $153,072 in the coming fiscal year and satisfy all current services.

The final public hearing regarding the Proposed Tax Rate of .6550 per $100 of property value is set for Tuesday, September 3 at 5:30 p.m.

Bonham City Council would likely vote on the Proposed Tax Rate at its next regular meeting Monday, September 9, 2019.