Tyler Proposes One Cent Increase to Tax Rate

TYLER — Tyler City Manager Ed Broussard presented his proposed 2015-16 budget to the City Council Wednesday morning, including a recommendation to increase the current tax rate of 22 cents to 23 cents per $100 valuation in order to fund street repair and maintenance projects. According to city news release, City Manager Ed Broussard says the hike “will create a new, sustainable source of revenue to repair cracks in our roadways.” He says that will ensure they don’t continue to erode and become more expensive reconstruction projects. The need for reinvestment in the City of Tyler’s aging infrastructure was the focus of this year’s State of the City event, where Mayor Martin Heines outlined the need for proactive street maintenance and spoke of upcoming challenges associated with water, wastewater, streets and drainage, according to the release.

In 1994, Tyler’s tax rate was 53.36 cents, with 16 cents of that utilized to pay down general obligation debt. Today’s rate is 43 percent lower, even in the face of steady growth in population as well as in the physical size of the community. The city paid off its general obligation debt in 2008. Broussard says the city’s “lean approach to government has deferred the need for a tax increase until recently.”