During the September 25th meeting, Town Council continued our legacy of having one of the lowest tax rates in the entire state by approving the maximum rate of 0.16788 per $100 assessed valuation. The approved rate did not increase and remained the same as last year.
The Town of Westlake takes our role as stewards of taxpayer resources very seriously. Every person involved, from the Town Council members to the municipal staff team, does their best to keep taxes low while still providing you with the high level of service you expect. The rate remains low to mirror our conservative and long-term planning budget practices. That’s why a low-level tax rate was established and maintained.
Check out the graphic below. Westlake’s tax rate continues to be well below many of our neighboring cities and peer communities.
So where is your money going? For the typical Westlake household, just 9.56% of every dollar goes to the Town while 11.07% of your property taxes go to the county, 17.46% goes to special districts like the hospital district and Tarrant County Community College, and 61.91% goes to the school districts of Carroll, Northwest, or Keller ISDs depending upon the boundary in which your residence falls within. The graphic below helps illustrate this further.
Amazingly, from those 17 cents, the core Town services such as quality public safety, planning and development, public works, the finance department, and Westlake Academy are funded. So how is that possible? To stretch that money, the Town utilizes a “shared services” model where several staff members step outside their traditional roles associated with each department within the municipality and work in a cross-functional manner between the Town and Westlake Academy. This helps us keep our overhead to a minimum while providing exceptional service.
In addition to receiving money through property taxes, the Town of Westlake receives revenue from sales taxes, building permits, and other fees to fund our daily operations. This work includes preserving a high quality of living for our residents, maintaining stellar roads and trails, and providing top-notch emergency services, which makes Westlake such a unique and idyllic place to call home. We truly are “Distinctive by Design”.