TOOL—During the regular city council meeting for the City of Tool Sept. 19, the council held discussion on homestead exemptions for Tool residents who are 65 years of age or older. Council Member Greg Figueroa stated that he sent out a mailer to Tool citizens recommending a $50,000 homestead exemption for seniors 65 and older. “I’ve analyzed the freeze and also the homestead exemption. The freeze freezes it going forward but it doesn’t give them any relief,” stated Figueroa. Figueroa explained his analysis of the taxes, explaining the financial impact of the tax break. “If you propose $50,000 [homestead exemption] it would be approximately $188.75 giving a loss of revenue to the city of about $75,500 per year in our ad valorem which is about $1.9 million right now,” said Figueroa. The cities of Athens, Malakoff, Mabank and Chandler were noted as also providing some type of tax exemption for senior citizens, however if Tool approved this it would be the largest homestead exemption any city in Henderson County ever passed providing significant relief to seniors. Figueroa explained further that there are developments under construction that will generate new revenue over the next five years. Figueroa estimated that future growth of the City of Tool sales tax revenue would also assist in the loss of revenue. “I think this is something that has been a long time coming that they’ve asked and asked and asked, I know we can discuss this but for me it’s time to take action, it’s time to just deliver this…I think we can afford it. It’s time to act. I don’t think we should wait. I think we should put it on the agenda for October and vote and pass this for our seniors” stated Figueroa. Figueroa also stated that he felt the city could also do a freeze in conjunction with the homestead exemption.  
Council Member Vera Bennett asked City Administrator Julius Kizzee his opinion on the topic which he stated, “If you offer homestead exemptions to seniors, how it’s been told to me by three separate people is the burden will be placed on the people to make up the loss of revenue.” Kizzee went on to explain that if you offer exemptions, you are lowering the total appraised value of the city and when you lower the value of the city the rate will go up to meet the base revenue that you had the previous year. “So going into next year if you lower the appraised value of the city, you have to catch up the rate to get back to your base line revenue,” stated Kizzee.     
Bennett suggested a freeze would be best because if home values continue to go up, that $50,000 exemption would be eaten away by the rising home value. Bennett stated that, “I certainly support doing something for the seniors, but I support a freeze and I think we need to do that immediately and not make them have to do a petition. We should have done this months ago.”
Council Member Michael Fladmark also spoke during the discussion stating, “I have been on the council the longest, and every year the council has done their best to estimate revenues and expenses. Every year we underestimate our revenues, and we overestimate our expenses, so we’ve always had a carryover. No matter how sophisticated we get we’re always going to be growing because of sales revenues and new building so there will always be some extra dollars and I agree with Greg, it’s going to be more than $75,000 a year. So, this to me is a no brainer.” Fladmark also shared that the city has had senior citizens coming before the council for years asking for tax relief and felt it was time to move forward. 
Mayor Mike Dumont stated that this was something the city had been looking at for a while but there would not be a final decision during the meeting. 
In other business, the council:
• Approved the abatement process for an unsafe building located at 208 North Indian Trail.
• Approved minutes from the Aug. 15 regular council meeting and the Aug. 26 special council meeting. 
• Approved the monthly activity reports for August as presented: (A) Executive Summary, (B) Financial and Expenditure, (C) Municipal Court, (D) Police, (E) Maintenance, (F) Building, (G) Code Enforcement, (H) Animal Control. 
• Approved a request by Paul Burell of 2501 Ridge Circle of the Arnold Hills Subdivision to replat lots 75-79 Block 6 to create one 1.26-acre Approved lot, Lot 75-R. 
•  Approved a request by Ben Adams of 870 Mockingbird Drive to allow the building of an accessory structure that would exceed 600 square feet. 
• Approved a notice of election for the general election that will take place Tuesday, Nov. 5. 
• Approved candidate Chad Huckabee to serve as the Texas Municipal League (TML) Region 15 Director on the TML Board of Directors. 
• Approved the adoption of Ordinance 2024-07T, tax rate for fiscal year 2024-25.
• Approved the adoption of Ordinance 2024-08B, budget for fiscal year 2024-25.
• Approved the adoption of Ordinance 2024-09, Oak Circle zoning change. 
• Approved the adoption of Ordinance 2012-04A, fences.