Council Question and Answer
Related To

Meeting Date

Item #42

May 19, 2016

Additional Answer Information
QUESTION: 1) Please provide current balance of the Housing Trust Fund (HTF). 2) Please provide the amount of
the annual tax transfer into HTF the since adoption of the Fund. 3) Please provide the expected loss to the General
Fund for the additional increase in the percentage transfer to the HTF. 4) Please list all properties in the Desired
Development Zones and the properties that this ordinance both currently impacts and will impact in future taxing year.
Please also provide the associated tax values. 5) Please provide a list of all properties classified as former State owned
properties (including properties formally owned by public universities) that are on the tax rolls and the associated tax
values. 6) Please provide the expected loss to the General Fund for the additional public land not currently transferred
to the HTF. 7) Please provide a sample calculation should this ordnance been in effect last year and what the resulting
tax impact would have been on the average homeowner’s tax bill/rate. COUNCIL MEMBER GALLO'S OFFICE
ANSWER:
1) As of the close of fiscal year 2014-15, the Housing Trust Fund had an ending balance of $2,852,635.
2) Annual Transfer to HTF

FY09
FY10
FY11
FY12
FY13
FY14
FY15
FY16

$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$

202,624
281,247
350,248
365,031
602,132
775,396
841,849
896,978

3) The proposed resolution does not propose an increase in the percentage of the property tax revenue from applicable
properties transferred to the Housing Trust Fund. This percentage was increased from 40% to 100% by Council
Resolution 201510217-074. The fiscal note attached as back-up to that resolution when it was proposed estimated the
incremental fiscal year 2016-17 cost to the General Fund at $1.5 million.
4) The Desired Development Zone encompasses a majority of the area of Austin and is estimated to contain perhaps
200,000 individual parcels. Staff will work with the Travis and Williamson Central Appraisal Districts to compile this
data, but this analysis cannot be completed in advance of City Council’s May 19, 2016 meeting.
5) Staff will work with the Travis and Williamson Central Appraisal Districts to compile this data, but this analysis
cannot be completed in advance of City Council’s May 19, 2016 meeting. Staff believe it will be relatively
straightforward to identify properties that were owned by the State in tax year 2015 but which were sold and became
taxable for tax year 2016. Researching such parcels becomes progressively more difficult and time-consuming,
particularly for appraisal district staff, the farther into the past research must be conducted.

 6) Districts to accurately determine valuation data for all applicable parcels in the Desired Development Zone, the
expected cost of changing the transfer calculation from including only City properties to including all properties cannot
be estimated with any sufficient degree of confidence. Staff do, however, expect that the impact would be significant.
The universe of properties eligible to be subject to the transfer would increase dramatically due to the many public and
non-profit entities owning now-exempt property within the Desired Development Zone. Parcel-level data will enable
staff to determine the fiscal year 2016-17 cost of changing the transfer calculation. However, accurately forecasting the
cost in subsequent out years will still be extremely challenging due to lack of knowledge about the level of development
that will occur on any sold parcel and because it will be impossible to predict in advance how many or which currently
publicly owned parcels will be sold in future years. In broad terms, it can be anticipated that, ceteris paribus, growth in
the transfer will outpace growth in overall General Fund property tax revenue and that therefore the transfer will
continue to represent a larger and larger relative share of General Fund requirements. This trend would only be
intensified by the change in the transfer calculation contemplated by the resolution.
7) Staff cannot accurately calculate this impact until the overall General Fund impact has been calculated. For fiscal
year 2015-16, each additional $1 million of General Fund spending translates into an incremental impact of $2.20 to the
owner of the median homestead not receiving the senior or disabled exemption.