Dickinson City Council on Tuesday voted 5-1, with Louis Decker opposed, to adopt a 2012 property tax rate of $0.4086 per $100 valuation.

The tax rate includes $0.33006 per $100 valuation designated for expenditures related to maintenance and operations of the city, with the remaining $0.07854 designated for payments on the city’s bond debts.

The adopted rate is lower than the effective tax rate, or the amount of taxes the city would need to levy to draw revenues equal to the previous fiscal year, which was calculated at $0.41066 per $100 valuation for 2012. The rollback rate was calculated at $0.44020 per $100 valuation.

The city council voted 5-1, with Decker opposed, to adopt the FY2013 Budget.

The budget presented for consideration was balanced, with revenues matching projected expenditures of $10,891,466 in the General Fund.  The debt service fund will pay out $910,684 on the city’s outstanding bonds, with revenues exceeding the expenditure by $549.

The city council voted unanimously to approve, on second and final reading, an ordinance amending the city’s Zoning Ordinance to add requirements for vegetative screening to provide a buffer between commercially zoned and residentially zoned properties.

The city council took no formal action, but clarified that sport utility vehicles would be the type of replacement vehicles used for police vehicles.

The city council received updates, taking no action, on various items, including:

• Public Works Projects
  
• Hurricane Ike Community Development Block Grant Projects
  
• Revisions to the floodplain map being undertaken by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and potential impacts to the city
  

All other items were approved by unanimous vote.  All members were present.  Agenda