Joint subcommittee members take a look at area taxes

At Friday’s joint subcommittee meeting of the Austin Independent School District, Travis County and Austin City Council, staff shared how combined area taxes are impacting area residents. The typical Austin homeowner will pay about $4,760 in property taxes to area entities – including Austin Community College and Central Health – in fiscal year 2016 with an additional $2,880 spent on utilities. With appraised property values rising, the amount is expected only to increase in the next five years. In fiscal year 2020, residents are projected to pay about $5,500 to the various entities and $3,170 to utilities, all tax rates being equal. AISD collects the majority of area taxes at about 51.4 percent, followed by the city of Austin at 20.6 percent and Travis County at 18.8 percent. Precinct 4 Travis County Commissioner Margaret Gómez informed subcommittee members that the county planned to go out for a $292 million bond in November to fund the new Civil & Family Courts Complex. At-Large AISD Board Member Kendall Pace said the district was considering asking voters for a tax increase in May 2016, but she stressed that the discussion was very preliminary.