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Orange council approves maximum 0.88 tax rate, acknowledges FY26 budget materials
Summary
The Orange City Council on Aug. 12 voted to adopt a tax rate of 0.88 and acknowledged receipt of the proposed fiscal 2026 budget and related tax reports after staff presentations on taxable values and collection projections.
Orange — The Orange City Council voted Aug. 12 to adopt a property tax rate of 0.88 and acknowledged receipt of the city's proposed fiscal year 2026 budget, the 2025 certified appraised values from the Orange County Appraisal District and related tax-rate worksheets.
The vote followed a presentation by Miss Zito, a finance staff member, who explained the tax assessor-collector's anticipated collection rate and how shifts in taxable values affect the city's calculated rates. "The tax assessor collector's anticipated collection rate, which is 99.87," Zito said, and staff presented scenarios showing that a proposed rate modestly above the no-new-revenue rate would generate roughly $400,000 in additional revenue overall, about $200,000 of that from property taxes.
The nut graf: The council's action sets a maximum rate for the public-notice process required by state law and acknowledges key budget documents that feed into the formal tax-rate adoption and budget hearings. Council members and staff emphasized that the proposed higher rate reflects a drop in the city's taxable base rather than an effort to increase revenue beyond needs.
Zito walked the council through how changes in large corporate appraisals affected the city's total taxable value. She told the council that a large industrial site had been devalued and that a hospital property's tax abatement also reduced the taxable base, explaining the inverse relationship between taxable value and the no-new-revenue rate.
Councilmembers then took the formal motion to set a tax rate of 0.88. The roll-call vote on that motion recorded the following: Miss McKenna ' aye; Mister Childs ' no; Mister Mortimer ' no; Mister Birch ' aye; Mister Chandler ' aye; Miss Salter ' aye. The motion passed, 4-2.
In related business the council acknowledged receipt of the proposed FY26 budget for review and scheduled public budget workshops. Staff noted insurance and other operating costs have risen and that the proposed rate increase would not fully cover higher expenses. Zito said the city manager and finance staff had been conservative in the proposal.
Ending: The council's vote establishes the maximum tax rate for required public notices and starts the formal public hearing process; final budget and tax-rate adoption will follow the statutorily required notice and public hearing schedule.
