[0:00] Start. Stop. Stop.
>> I'm going to call this meeting of the
[0:03] Town of Aubrey City Council to order
August 12th, 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
[0:08] Uh
Present are Josh Caldwell,
[0:11] Dell McLaren, Ken Bender, and Mayor Tim
Ratcliff.
[0:15] Um
everybody will stand
[0:18] for the Pledge of Allegiance.
>> Where he is.
[0:22] » Oh, there we go.
And And also Cecil Hudson.
[0:25] » Should Josh stand up for me?
>> [laughter]
[0:27] » Stand up for the nation.
>> Which is for you.
[0:30] » Which is for the nation.
[0:33] » I pledge allegiance
>> to the flag of the United States of
[0:36] America, and to the republic for which
it stands, one nation under God,
[0:43] indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all.
[0:49] » Honor
>> Honor the Texas flag.
[0:51] » I
>> allegiance to the Texas flag.
[0:53] » I pledge allegiance to the Texas flag,
under God,
[0:56] one and indivisible.
[1:00] » Lord, we thank you that we can come here
tonight and do the city's business. We
[1:04] pray that you will be with us and watch
over us. Help us to
[1:07] make the right decisions that you would
have us make.
[1:10] We ask these things in the name of Jesus
Christ, our Lord. Amen.
[1:14] » Amen.
>> Okay. Has everybody had a chance to take
[1:19] a look at the latest iteration
of the 2026 tax rate calculation
[1:24] worksheet? Robin and I have been working
on this for weeks.
[1:28] This latest one came out at 3:45 this
afternoon.
[1:33] Um
this is as close as we're going to get
[1:36] to the right numbers.
Um
[1:40] so
[1:43] I will entertain any questions, which I
may or may not can answer.
[1:48] And uh
>> That makes sense.
[1:52] » Uh and otherwise,
we will go down to number five,
[1:55] discussion and action to Council review
the tax rates calculated and submitted
[1:58] by the county and take a record vote
on approving the proposed 35 cent tax
[2:03] rate. The recorded vote is I will call
your name
[2:06] and you will answer yes or no and Robin
will record that vote.
[2:11] Um
and so
[2:14] if there's any discussion, this is the
time.
[2:21] » Uh I think until we hear differently
this is what we need to do.
[2:28] » Well, I will tell you that the tax
office has
[2:32] repeatedly messed this up in the last
few weeks and Robin and I have worked
[2:36] about two correct it.
And uh I think that it is
[2:42] very, very close.
We started out not very close, but we're
[2:47] at least very close now.
And close enough that it's within the uh
[2:52] uh
space that the tax that the government
[2:54] gives us to be, so.
>> We're just below
[2:59] the two rates
which
[3:04] voters could petition to have a lower
rate.
[3:09] So, if if that were to happen
then we would have to have an election
[3:14] in
November.
[3:16] Um if
majority
[3:20] happened it, then we would have to use
the
[3:24] uh
[3:26] voters
Yeah.
[3:28] » We would automatically have it.
It's questionable whether or not we're
[3:32] within the range to even for there to be
a petition, so. This has been our tax
[3:36] rate for 9 or 10 years now.
Um we don't see any reason to for this
[3:41] to be changed.
Uh
[3:44] so, I just need a motion.
The motion has to be made exactly as you
[3:48] see it on your sheet.
>> Yes.
[3:53] » The question so the 1.5%
increase
[3:58] is a 1.5 above what?
>> That's the difference between the um
[4:06] one of those tax rates. I don't remember
if it's the revenue rate or the voter
[4:10] approval tax rate. So
that's the difference between our
[4:14] proposed tax rate.
[4:22] Yeah, I don't know why I have all those
other numbers in there. It's basically
[4:25] all we're doing is saying
we proposed this tax rate.
[4:30] » Perfect example of going back to the
early '90s when you used to hear us all
[4:33] the time garbage in and garbage out.
They fit garbage into this to begin
[4:37] with. When you put it in the computer,
it spits out this form, fills in all
[4:41] these numbers, but they had the wrong
numbers to begin with
[4:45] on the taxable values. They had the
wrong numbers on and some other places.
[4:50] We had to go back and corrected them
and then go back and correct some other
[4:54] things. They left off the payment for
the fire truck. We had to go back and
[4:57] correct that this afternoon after
weeks of trying to get them to correct
[5:01] it.
So that's the reason I say that.
[5:05] We're
relatively confident
[5:08] that this is relatively close to
correct.
[5:12] » Well, not relatively, but yes.
[5:19] » Um
any other questions?
[5:21] I would entertain any other questions.
>> Any any other questions?
[5:28] » Uh I move that the property tax rate be
increased by the adoption of a tax rate
[5:32] of
0.35 per hundred, which is effectively a
[5:36] 1.5% increase in tax rate in the tax
rate.
[5:43] » Second.
>> I have a motion and a second to
[5:48] increase the adoption of the tax rate of
35 cents.
[5:52] Effectively a 1.5% increase in the tax
rate, which of course is not an increase
[5:56] in the tax rate at all. So, that's you
know, we're signing off on something
[6:00] that just comes our way. We're not
trying to do anything.
[6:03] But, it's what the state requires, so
that's what we'll do.
[6:06] So, [clears throat]
I'll need a record vote.
[6:10] Council member Holloway,
how do you vote?
[6:13] » I vote to at least approve this.
>> Council member Hudson.
[6:20] » I to approve.
>> Council member Bender.
[6:24] » I vote yay to approve.
>> Council member McLaren.
[6:29] » I vote to agree.
[6:32] » I can vote, but I won't.
>> I do have to put your vote down.
[6:36] » Oh, that's right. Okay, well, I vote
yes.
[6:43] » Okay,
moving on to number six. Announcement
[6:47] hearings to adopt the fiscal year
2026-2027 tax rate and budget will begin
[6:51] at 7:00 p.m. on August 24th, 2026.
So, we will have those hearings
[6:57] um
at 7:00.
[6:59] And then, go right to the next one and
then go right to the regular meeting.
[7:05] So, with all that fun out of the way, I
need a motion to
[7:10] » I make a motion to adjourn.
>> I second.
[7:13] » I have a motion and a second to adjourn.
All in favor?
[7:15] » I.
>> We are adjourned at