This week, the Highland Village City Council approved the first read of the city’s Fiscal Year 2023-24 budget, which includes the city’s largest tax rate reduction ever.
The city projects an 8.2% increase in sales tax revenue and 4.9% increase in property tax revenue, according to a news release from the city. A new significant sales tax revenue generator will be The Cheesecake Factory expected to open late this year in The Shops at Highland Village. It is expected to generate four times as much sales as the old Barnes & Noble bookstore did (an additional $800,000 per year) in less than half the space, Shops officials said during a recent City Council meeting.
With the expected rise in revenue, the city is decreasing its tax rate from $0.546825 to $0.501394 in the next FY budget, an 8.3% reduction. Highland Village’s 2024 base budget is $22,895,143 with $484,018 for supplemental requests and includes a 4.5% pay raise for employees, as well as market adjustments for some police, fire and other positions, according to the city.
Key initiatives and projects this year include:
- Moving the trail right-of-way and municipal sites mowing in house which results in an estimated $30,000 savings per year following the initial equipment purchase
- Full deployment of the power shifts in the Fire Department to improve the ability to respond to overlapping calls and reduce mutual aid requests
- Funding for a municipal facilities assessment to evaluate the condition of buildings, ADA compliance, fire, electrical, plumbing and HVAC systems
- Public safety body armor replacement
- Handguns with red dot sights
- Opticom police vehicle signal preemption
- Pickleball court conversion at Unity Park
- $149,207 for rising construction costs for a joint use fire training facility with the city of Lewisville and town of Flower Mound
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