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Toll Tags available at City Toll Tag accounts are prepay, which means sufficient funds must be maintained with the North Texas Tollway Authority to cover tolls and charges for the use of the tag. A minimum of $40 is needed to open the account. For more information, please call ( 972) 771-7736. City Tax Rate But despite the economy, the city’s financial status remains good. Council members and city officials recently were told by Standard & Poor’s that the City continued to have a strong financial position, supported by strong financial management policies in spite of the current business climate. Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s review of the city’s bond rating affirmed its ratings of A1 and AA- respectively. In the new spending plan, the city’s tax rate will remain at 50.31cents per $100 valuation. “There will be one new School Resource Officer for the reopened Utley Middle School,” said Mary Smith, the city’s Finance Director, “but there are no other new employees and no employee raises. We were extremely cautious in our projection of revenues from sales tax and construction activities. We managed to present a balanced budget in spite of very little new revenue dollars and increasing fixed costs such as utilities.” City Manager Julie Couch told council that sales tax revenues are estimated to remain flat in the upcoming fiscal year, and that she anticipates a reduction in overall construction in what she termed “our slowest period of residential growth in the past decade.” A public hearing on the new budget is scheduled for September 8 and it will be formally adopted at the September 21 council meeting. In August, the City sold bonds to finance several projects that included the final phases of John King Boulevard and the design work for FM549. Also, equipment will be purchased for Fire Stations 3 and 4 that are being readied for opening - a new ladder truck and a third radio tower for the public safety radio system. Dock work at The Harbor was also funded. The bonds were sold on a negotiated basis with an interest rate of 3.50 percent for one package and 3.63 percent for the remaining package. Also, the City was able to refinance bonds from 1999 with an interest savings of more than $387,000. Geographic Information Systems
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Water Restrictions Citizens Fire Academy False Alarm Update The amended ordinance requires a non-refundable annual registration fee of $30.00 for residential alarm systems and $50.00 for commercial alarm systems as of January 1, 2009. If a residence or business currently has an alarm permit on file, payment of the registration fee is due on the anniversary date in 2009. An alarm system may consist of one or multiple types of alarms including burglary, robbery, security or fire. A separate permit will be required for each street address and security/fire alarm system. Each false alarm occurring after the third false alarm, within a 12 month period, is a violation of the ordinance. Failure to register an alarm system could result in a fine. False alarms may indicate that the alarm system is not functioning properly, may not be reliable or there may be a need for training of family members or employees. Home and business owners can register their security or fire alarm by visiting the following link: Municipal Utility Usage for The City of Rockwall purchases natural gas from Atmos Energy. In Calendar Year 2009, the City purchased a total of 703 thousand cubic feet (MCF) of natural gas. The City purchases electricity from Direct Energy and FEC Electric Coop. In calendar year 2009, the City purchased a total of 7,939,800 kilowatt hours. The City purchases water from the City of Rockwall. In calendar year 2009, the City purchased a total of 54,923,642 gallons of water. The total cost of utilities (natural gas, electricity, and water) purchased by the City of Rockwall in the calendar year 2009 is $1,258,287.00.
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© City of Rockwall, 2010 ♦ 385 South Goliad Street ♦ Rockwall, TX 75087 ♦ (972) 771-7700 |
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