The fiscal year of the City is hereby designated as beginning the 1st day of January of each year, and closing with the 31st day of December next ensuing thereafter.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
The City Council shall on the 1st day of October of each year, or as soon thereafter as practicable, prepare a budget to cover all proposed expenditures of the City for the succeeding year. Such budget shall be prepared in conformity with the Texas Local Government Code.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957; Ordinance 1415 adopted 2/13/2017, prop. 1, approved at election of 5/6/2017)
The City Council is authorized to select a depository for City funds in accordance with the Texas Government Code.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957; Ordinance 1415 adopted 2/13/2017, prop. 1, approved at election of 5/6/2017)
(a)
The City Council shall have the power and authority by ordinance duly passed, and it is hereby expressly authorized to issue bonds for the purpose of refunding bonds of the City previously issued, or for any other lawful purpose.
(b)
In keeping with the Constitution of Texas, and not contrary thereto, the City shall have the power to issue all tax bonds, revenue bonds, funding and refunding bonds, warrants, time warrants, revenue warrants, notes, securities and other evidence of indebtedness as now authorized or as may be hereafter authorized to be issued by cities and towns under the provisions of the Texas Government Code, or by the General Laws of the State of Texas.
(c)
In all elections to determine the expenditures of money or the assumption of debt of any nature, qualified voters shall be deemed to be those who are qualified under the general laws of the State of Texas.
(d)
Ordinances authorizing any bonds, warrants, revenue warrants, notes or other evidences of indebtedness to be issued shall provide for the creation of a sinking fund sufficient to pay the principal and interest of such bonds when and as the same become due and payable. Such sinking fund, in excess of the amount necessary to pay the principal and interest of the bonds when and as the same become due and payable, may each year be invested, as provided for by the Texas Government Code, or by the General Laws of the State of Texas.
(e)
Any officer or agent of the City who shall unlawfully or knowingly divert or use said funds or cause or permit same to be diverted or used for any other purpose except that for which the fund is created or herein expressly authorized to be invested shall be deemed guilty of a felony and subject to prosecution as provided under the general laws of the State of Texas.
(f)
The City shall have the power to borrow money on the faith and credit of the City by the issue or sale of bonds or notes of the City. In any tax year, in anticipation of the collection of the ad valorem property tax for such year, whether levied or to be levied in such year, the Council may by resolution authorize the borrowing of money by the issuance of negotiable notes of the City each of which shall be designated "tax anticipation note for the year ____" (stating the tax year). Such notes shall mature and be payable not later than the end of the tax year in which issued, and may be secured by pledge of the ad valorem property taxes for such year.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957; Ordinance 395 adopted 2/23/1976, approved at election of 4/3/1976; Ordinance 1415 adopted 2/13/2017, prop. 1, approved at election of 5/6/2017)
The City Council shall cause an annual audit to be made of the books of accounts of each and every department of the City. Such audit shall be made by public accountants who shall be selected by the City Council, and a contract entered into from year to year, and such contract shall provide that the books of the City shall be audited at least annually, and such auditors' report to the City Council shall be accessible to the public or for publication.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
All real, personal and mixed property held, owned or situated in the City, which is not exempt by the Constitution or General Laws of the State of Texas, shall be liable for all taxes due by the owner thereof, including taxes on real estate, franchise, gross receipts of Public Utilities, personal and mixed property.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
(a)
If, as and when the City Council shall deem it necessary, the City Council shall have the power to levy annually for general purposes and for the purpose of paying interest and providing the sinking fund on the bonded indebtedness of the City, now in existence or which may hereafter be created, an ad valorem tax on all real, personal or mixed property within the territorial limits of said City and upon all franchises granted by the City to any individuals or corporations of not exceeding a total of two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) on the one hundred dollars ($100.00) assessed valuation of said property. If for any cause the City Council shall fail, neglect or refuse to pass a tax ordinance for any one year, levying taxes for that year, then, and in that event, the tax levying ordinance last passed shall and will be considered in force and effect as the tax levying ordinance for the year for which the City Council failed, neglected or refused to pass such ordinance, and the failure so to pass such ordinance for any year shall in no wise invalidate the tax collections for that year.
(b)
The City Council may determine and provide when taxes shall be due and payable by corporations and all persons owning property. It shall have the right to fix the time and terms of payments of taxes, prescribe penalties for the nonpayment thereof upon the expiration of the time fixed by said City Council, and may provide discounts for advance payments of taxes.
(c)
The City Council or any other officer of the City shall never extend the time for the payment of taxes, or remit[,] discount or compromise any tax legally due the City, nor waive the penalty that may be due thereon to any person, but the City Council may provide for the discount, compromise or waiver of penalty to persons legally owing any taxes where such discount, compromise or waiver of penalty is for any particular and specified year or years and is deemed necessary to correct obvious errors in assessment or to join other taxing bodies in adjusting taxes to the value of the property; provided, however, that this provision shall not prevent the compromise of any tax suit.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
(a)
Tax levied by the City Council is hereby declared to be a lien, charge or encumbrance upon the property upon which the tax is due, which lien, charge or encumbrance the City is entitled to enforce and foreclose in any court having jurisdiction over same, and the lien, charge and encumbrance on the property in favor of the City for the amount of the taxes due on such property is such as to give the State Courts jurisdiction to enforce and foreclose said lien on the property on which the tax is due, not only as against any resident of this State or person whose residence is unknown, but also as against the unknown heirs of any person who owns the property upon which the tax is due and also as against non-residents. All taxes upon real estate shall especially be a lien and a charge upon the property upon which the taxes are due, which lien may be foreclosed in any court having jurisdiction.
(b)
Tax liens shall take effect on property as of the beginning of the tax year, and such liens shall be prior to all other claims or liens, and no gift, sale, assignment, or transfer of any kind, or judicial writ shall defeat such liens. The assessor-collector of taxes shall by virtue of his/her tax rolls have power and authority to seize and levy upon all personal property and sell the same to satisfy all taxes, together with all penalty interest, and costs, due by a delinquent taxpayer to the City on personal property.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
(a)
If, as and when the City Council has levied an ad valorem tax under Section 7 of Article V of this Charter, it shall be the duty of every person or corporation owning or holding property within the City to render under oath to the assessor of taxes or such other person as may be provided for by ordinance at his/her office in said City annually within the time prescribed by ordinance of said City a full and complete inventory of all property so owned or held by him, whether real, personal or mixed, and to take and subscribe to an oath to the correctness of such inventory, which oath may be administered by the assessor or such other officer as aforesaid, acting in person or by deputy.
(b)
The definitions of property and terms as defined by the General Laws of the State under the head of Taxation shall apply to the taxation of property in this city.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
If, as and when the City Council has levied an ad valorem tax under Section 7 of Article V of this Charter the City Council shall provide by ordinance for the listing and valuation of all property, real, personal and mixed, situated, owned or held within the City Limits, and which has not been rendered by the owner thereof each year, upon a date to be specified by the City Council, by ordinance, by the assessor or other officer designated for that purpose, which list of property so unrendered and assessed shall be placed upon the tax roll of the City and submitted along with the rendered roll to the Appraisal Review Board and be subject to the same tax levy as the rendered property within the City.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
(a)
The City Council shall have full power, by ordinance, to provide for the prompt collection of all taxes levied, assessed and due or becoming due to said City, and prescribe where property shall be assessed or rendered for taxes and when the taxes thereon shall become due and payable, and to that end may and shall pass all ordinances and make all provisions as may be necessary for levying, imposing, assessing and collecting said taxes, regulating the methods of making out tax lists and inventories, and fixing the duties and defining the powers of the assessor and collector of taxes or such other officer as may be designated therefor by the City Council.
(b)
Taxes shall be payable at the office of the assessor and collector or such other office as the City Council may prescribe, and no demand for payment thereof shall be requisite or necessary to enforcement of the collection thereof, nor for the collection of any taxes due, before the adoption of the Charter.
(c)
All property which the owner thereof may have failed or refused to inventory, assess or render for taxation as required so to do, shall be by the officer designated by the City Council inventoried, and assessed and rendered for taxes for the year or years for which the same was not so rendered, inventoried and assessed by the owner thereof, and such officer designated by the City Council shall have the right and it shall be his/her duty at any time to revise, correct and reassess and properly describe any property incorrectly rendered or assessed or improperly described, without the necessity of giving notice to the owner thereof; provided, however, that the valuation as fixed by the Appraisal Review Board shall not be changed, and such inventory and assessment when revised and worked over shall be as valid and effective as if on such assessment sheets and tax rolls and as if regularly and duly rendered and assessed by the owner for the year for which rendered, assessed, and inventoried, as above provided for, by the officer of the City designated by the City Council, and said tax rolls and assessment sheets shall be prima facie evidence that said property was regularly and duly rendered, inventoried, assessed and properly described in all respects as if done duly and regularly by the owner in the first instance.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
Ad valorem taxes due or to become due upon real, personal or mixed property or upon franchises granted by the City to individuals or corporations, and license taxes, occupation taxes, permit fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties and other amounts of taxes accruing to the City shall be collectible and payable only in current money of the United States.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
All ad valorem taxes that are due or to become due to the City that are not paid within the time specified by the City Council in the ordinance providing the date of payment of said taxes shall be declared delinquent and shall be subject to the penalties prescribed by ordinance from time to time and may be collected by suit from delinquents, and foreclosure of the lien thereon may be had in any court having jurisdiction of the same or personal property may be levied upon and sold for taxes by the assessor and collector. Any person who shall purchase or shall have purchased property encumbered by a lien for taxes or upon which taxes are due shall be deemed as to such taxes a delinquent taxpayer, and such purchaser shall take the property charged with lien, and he/she cannot interpose any defense which the person or corporation owing the property at the time of the assessment of said taxes so delinquent might not have interposed had he/she or it continued to be the owner, except that no personal judgment shall be rendered for same against such purchaser.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
An Appraisal Review Board shall review appraisals and assessments as provided by the Property Tax Code of the State of Texas.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957; Ordinance 855 adopted 3/30/1992, prop. 4, approved at election of 5/2/1992)
The City Council shall have the power to levy and collect taxes upon trades, professions or other businesses carried on to the full extent permitted by the Constitution and the General Laws of the State of Texas, and to prescribe penalties for nonpayment thereof.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)
The City Council shall have the power to contract with any competent attorney at law for the collection of delinquent taxes owing to the City. Where the City has a part time city attorney, he/she may be employed and compensated to collect delinquent taxes owing to the City.
(Charter adopted 12/2/1957)