Public hearing for Highland Haven property tax increase Sept. 7
A public hearing on an expected property tax rate increase in Highland Haven will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7, at the Highland Haven Community Center, 118 Blackbird Drive. Staff photo
A public hearing on an expected property tax rate increase in Highland Haven will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 7, at the Highland Haven Community Center, 118 Blackbird Drive.
The Highland Haven Council of Aldermen is expected to raise the current property tax rate by 3.5 percent, the maximum allowed by the state of Texas without placing it on an election ballot.
The aldermen reviewed the tax rate during their regular meeting Aug. 17. The proposed rate tax rate is $0.1260 per $100 of value.
Mayor Olan Kelley noted that property taxes in Highland Haven are the lowest in any of the Highland Lakes cities.
The extra money from property taxes will go to two areas.
The first is compensation for the city’s two paid employees: City Secretary Jeff Lederer, who started working there July 26, and administrative assistant Lezley Baum.
The other is accounting software made specifically for municipalities, the mayor said.
“We do have personnel costs,” he said. “And we have accounting software that’s been in place since the city incorporated (in 1995). Those are fairly expensive propositions. As far as I know, that’s the software they had, and it’s not designed for cities.”