City of Stafford website
Stafford’s city council failed to pass a measure this week that would allow them to put a property tax on the ballot in November. The city has not had a property tax for nearly 30 years.
During an often heated meeting, Stafford City Council members debated the necessity of a property tax. Mayor Ken Mathew pointed to the city’s fund balance as evidence that a property tax was not needed. He said the city’s fund balance was $14.5 million in 2021 and grew to $25 million in 2023.
“This is (the) financial situation,” he said. “The city is not broke. And I am totally against charging people.”
But council member Tim Wood said the majority of that money was in the city’s economic development fund – which can only be used for economic development and cannot go toward city services like the fire department or police. In 2021, about $13 million of the $14.5 million fund balance cited by the mayor was in the economic development fund, Wood said.
Wood said the city needs to look at other numbers.
“Does the city’s revenue meet its expenditures?” he asked. “And the answer is no.”
Many members of the community came forward to voice their opinions. Several said they believed the city should put a property tax on the ballot and allow residents to decide.
Four city council members voted in favor of increasing the tax rate from 0 cents to 29 cents per $100 of property valuation. However, they needed five votes – a supermajority – to pass the measure.
Because the tax rate increase failed, city council members could not put a property tax on the ballot.
After the measure failed to pass, some city employees expressed frustration with a lack of funding for their departments.
Chief of Police Richard Ramirez said his department is down to five patrol vehicles because others are in need of repair.
“We are in a critical state,” he said. “I come up here and I tell you this so that you’re aware of it.”
Fire Chief Larry DiCamillo said his department has been unable to buy potentially life-saving equipment to protect its firefighters.
“What we were asking for was responsible measures to catch up for the last five years of the most prehistoric budgeting process, that pre-dated covid,” he said. “Covid just exacerbated it.”
The city must now pass a revised budget by the end of September.
