The City of Brownwood will conduct a public hearing on the fiscal year 2013/2014 budget at Tuesday’s City Council Meeting to receive feedback from the public on the budget.

The city’s total proposed budget is $30,644,521 which is a 1.19% increase over the current year.

The new budget did call for an increase in city utility rates on the year.  A briefing sheet on the budget states that the Brown County Water Improvement District (BCWID) initially proposed an increase in wholesale water rates to the city of 5.09% which Brownwood took into consideration in their recommended budget.  Earlier this month, the BCWID increased the rate by 6.65% instead which added $16,900 to the city’s budget.

The briefing sheet states that the city is not looking at any further increases in the rates at this time and will make up the difference partially with property tax revenue generated by an increase in value and will absorb the remainder of the increase.

The proposed property tax rate for the budget is $0.7463 per $100 valuation which is the same as the current year.    A public hearing will be held on the tax rate Tuesday as well and more public hearings will be scheduled in September.

The budget and tax rate will be scheduled for a vote on first reading on September 17th with final readings and approval on September 24th.