Lubbock to see possible property tax increase, lower 2024 city budget, staff changes

Mateo Rosiles, Lubbock Avalanche-Journal
·6 min read
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As the Lubbock City Council gears up for its upcoming budget sessions, the $968 million proposed 2024 budget is currently asking for a 2.75% property tax increase.

During a two-day special council meeting on Monday and Tuesday, it was discussed that the tax increase would generate $12.5 million more in ad valorem tax revenue over last year's budget.

The property tax revenue increase, broken down, will see $9.2 million go toward the city's general fund, half a million dollars to the economic development fund and $2.8 million to the debt.

Here are six more key takeaways from the preliminary budget talks.

Why will Lubbock have a lower city budget this year?

Before looking at the specifics of the budget, it's important to know the extenuating factors that are burdening the budget, such as inflation and the cost of chemicals increasing, according to officials.

Last year, the city saw a budget of more than $1 billion.

However, this year LP&L will see a reduction of 27.1% — more than a $94 million decrease from last year's budget.

City Manager Jarrett Atkinson said the reason for this big decrease in funding is due to LP&L completing several big projects this year, therefore the funding they received is no longer there.

Lubbock city department budgets to see a minor increase for cost of living adjustments

All of the city departments' staffs will see a 3% cost of living adjustment for non-civil service employees' salaries, and a 4% increase for civil service employees (i.e. firefighters and police).

Councilwoman Latrelle Joy did ask the city manager to run a cost analysis and present it at a later date to see how much it would cost to raise the COLA to 4% for all city employees.

Through the city's general fund, Lubbock Police Department, Lubbock Fire Rescue and the Solid Waste Departments have the three biggest budgets, totaling more than $189 million.

Here's a look at all of the proposed budget changes to the 26 city departments, and the proposed budgets they will receive:

  • Lubbock Police — $90.1 million budget, a 5.1% increase.

  • Lubbock Fire — $72.5 million budget, a 8.1% increase.

  • Solid Waste Management — $26.5 million budget, a 1.6% increase.

  • Parks & Recreation — $13.4 million budget, a 4% increase.

  • Streets Management Department — $5.6 million budget, a 1.8% decrease.

  • Facilities — $5.1 million budget, a 4.8% increase.

  • Libraries — $4.3 million budget, a 4.3% increase.

  • Traffic Management Department — $4.3 million budget, a 0.2% decrease.

  • Code Enforcement — $3.8 million budget, a 3.8% increase.

  • Animal Services — $3.4 million budget, a 13.8% increase.

  • Finance — $3.1 million budget, a 5.5% increase.

  • Building Safety — $3.1 million budget, a 8.5% increase.

  • Non-departmental spending — $2.6 million budget, a 16.9% increase.

  • City Attorney — $2.5 million budget, a 3.4% increase.

  • Municipal Court — $2.1 million budget, a 4.4% increase.

  • Environmental Health & Vector — $2 million budget, a 24.9% increase.

  • City Manager — $1.8 million budget, a 4.3% decrease.

  • City Secretary — $1.7 million budget, a 17.7% decrease.

  • Public Health Department — $1.7 million budget, a 3.5% increase.

  • Museums — $1.4 million budget, a 2.9% increase.

  • Human Resources — $1.2 million budget, a 15.8% increase.

  • Planning Department — $1.1 million budget, a 3.6% increase.

  • Engineering Department — $950,000 budget, a 13.5% decrease.

  • Communications & Marketing — $800,000 budget, a 6.1% increase.

  • City Council — $600,000 budget, a 5.7% decrease.

  • Internal Audit — $472,000 budget, a 9.2% increase.

Lubbock city officials address recent 911 concerns

After other local media reported 30,000 abandoned calls — also known as missed calls — occurred last year, Atkinson addressed some concerns from the council.

As of right now, the LPD 911 center is operating at 10 dispatch personnel per shift, after May 2023 communication center leadership advocated for the center to drop down to seven personnel from nine.

In early July, Police Chief Floyd Mitchell said via X — formerly known as Twitter — that he bumped the staff up to eight personnel per shift.

Personnel also have 90 seconds to answer an incoming 911 call before it is transferred to the secondary center at LFR.

"The national standard for that rollover is 30 seconds," Atkinson said. "Up to 2018, 30 seconds is what was used in the Lubbock comms center and was ultimately changed at the request of comms center management at that time."

With that leadership no longer there, the police chief and fire chief are looking for a date to reintroduce the 30-second standard in the department.

Atkinson also said the department created a training coordinator position for the 911 center and reopened the call taker position within the center.

It was not made known what the difference between the responsibilities of a call taker and a dispatcher is.

Expected water and solid waste bill changes for 2024

There are some rate changes coming to citizens' water bills. Here's what they are:

  • Stormwater — A decrease of $0.60 in the residential tier 1 category, which is prorated.

  • Wastewater — No change.

  • Water — A $0.25 increase to the base fee, prorated, and an increase of $0.07 to $0.68 on the volumetric rate, depending on the usage tier.

  • Solid Waste General Collection — A $1 increase for residential, and a prorated rate for commercial, plus an increase of $0.25 per ton fee from the West Texas Region Disposal Facility, and a $1 per ton fee increase from the Caliche Canyon facility.

LP&L's budget and the upcoming competitive energy market switch

Joe Jimenez, director of financial planning and analysis for LP&L, told council the company is still awaiting approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to transfer the last 30% of its customers from the Southwest Power Pool to the Energy Reliability Council of Texas grid.

More: Retail electric competition could be delayed months, LP&L says

According to previous Avalanche-Journal reporting, Lubbock was supposed to make the switch to the retail energy market in the middle of 2023, but Jimenez said the target date is now March 2024.

LP&L presented a proposed budget of over $250 million — a 27.1% decrease from last year's budget.

The reason for this is that LP&L will no longer have to pay for power in March 2024, which will alleviate more than $101 million in expenses.

Lubbock city departments' staffing changes add to first responders, lose vacant positions

The city is also looking to hire 43 new positions this upcoming fiscal year, while also getting rid of 29 positions.

The most notable of the 43 new positions will be hiring 18 new firefighters — 15, in particular, are being hired in preparation for the opening of Fire Station 20.

The city is also looking to hire six new police officers, eight Lubbock Power & Lights employees, and four employees for the health department.

To find job openings with the city government, visit www.governmentjobs.com/careers/lubbock.

Of the 29 positions being eliminated — 20 are from LP&L, seven vacant positions from parks and a vacant assistant city manager position.

As a reminder, the meetings were only preliminary talks, which will continue throughout the coming weeks.

The council will vote on Tuesday during their regular meeting on the highest amount the city can set for a tax rate increase.

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock to see property tax increase, lower city budget in 2024