1 / 11

Challenges and Demand for City-Type Services in Bexar County's Unincorporated Areas

The growth in Bexar County's unincorporated areas has led to increasing expectations for city-type services. However, due to the passage of SB 89 in 1999, annexation by the City of San Antonio has become challenging. This has resulted in unmet needs for essential services such as fire protection, police, code enforcement, and solid waste management. Implementing these services would require significant tax increases, posing legal and fiscal challenges. Citizens may need to explore self-incorporation, special districts, or public improvement districts for better service delivery.

cornelius-welsh
Télécharger la présentation

Challenges and Demand for City-Type Services in Bexar County's Unincorporated Areas

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Demand for City-type Services

  2. Demand for City-Type Services • Development in the unincorporated area may result in the expectation that the County should provide different, city-type services • SB 89 passed in 1999 made the annexation process more difficult therefore, the City of San Antonio has curtailed annexation

  3. Demand for City-Type Services • “City”-type Services: • Utilized City’s FY 2010-11 Budget to • establish a cost per citizen • Used Unincorporated Area population to • establish a budget for these services • Calculated the tax rate needed to pay for these services

  4. Demand for City-Type Services • Services not provided by the County that may be expected in a more urban unincorporated area setting: • Code Enforcement - $2.4 M. • Cultural Affairs - $1.5 M. • Customer Service/311 - $805 K. • Development Services - $4.3 M. • Fire/EMT - $48.5 M. • Police - $63.4 M. • Solid Waste Management - $20 M.

  5. Cost for City-Type Services • Bexar County budget would increase by $155 million if implemented in 2012 • This does not include costs associated with start-up such as the construction of buildings, vehicles, etc. • Assumes all costs are paid through property tax revenue, no special fees included.

  6. Legal Challenges/Barriers • Counties in Texas do not have “home rule” authority, they only have powers specifically granted to them by the constitution and state laws • Significant constitutional and/or legislative change would be required in order for the County to perform some of these services

  7. Fiscal Challenges/Barriers • Tax all property in Bexar County • Tax rate increase of $0.1849 per $100 valuation • Current tax rate is $0.32686 per $100 valuation • Would bring total tax rate up to $0.5118 per $100 valuation • City’s current tax rate is $0.56569 per $100 valuation

  8. Fiscal Challenges/Barriers • Tax property in the unincorporated area of Bexar County • Tax rate increase of $1.2251 per $100 valuation • Would bring total County tax rate up to $1.552 per $100 valuation • Constitutional Limit of $0.80 per $100 valuation

  9. Bottom Line • County can’t legally perform many City-type services • No “home rule” or ordinance-making authority • County won’t be legally able to raise taxes to fund this level of services • Roll-back rate limitation of no more than 8% annually

  10. Other Options Available to Unincorporated Areas • Pursue self-incorporation as new cities • Creation of Special Districts • Self-Assessments, Public Improvement Districts, etc • Annexation by the City of San Antonio (or other incorporated cities) 10

  11. Demand for City-type Services

More Related