City council passes 2020-2021 budget

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - The Lubbock City Council passed a balanced budget during its regular city council meeting on Tuesday. Included is $230 million in the city’s general fund revenue and $877.6 million in total funding sources.

The balanced budget is set to reduce the city’s debt by around $107.8 million.

Street maintenance will be funded at $10 million. And funding for a program to pave dirt roads in city limits was doubled to $800,000.

No city employee raises were given out. But the city was able to maintain its funding reserves.

The budget also shows a 1.6 percent increase in the city’s bottom line.

However, taxes paid on properties will more than likely remain the same for most citizens. That is only if the valuation on the property went up by 3.4 percent, which is an average appraisal growth amount.

“If your home went up by that (3.4 percent) amount. Your tax bill will stay the same, it will not go up,” Jarrett Atkinson, Lubbock city manager said during a work session on Tuesday. “If the value of that home went up by less than the average, there will be a very slight decrease. And if it went up greater than the average, there will be a very slight increase.”

During that same work session the city council was also given an update on COVID-19 matters.

Overall, the city has not taken much of a financial hit because of the pandemic.

The council was told permits for single-family residences have increased during the last few months.

During August, the city issued 139 permits for single-family homes.

“You’ll see to-date, that despite this pandemic, we are not slowing down,” Jesica Mceachern, assistant city manager, said. “In fact, we are swamped, we are extremely busy with a 30 percent increase over this time last year for single-family permits.”

Read more information at the City of Lubbock website here: https://ci.lubbock.tx.us/departments/finance/budget-process-and-approval

This story was updated to show the total amount of funding sources from the city.

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