The Orange City Council on Tuesday will have its first regular meeting since before the Tropical Storm Harvey flood. The business will include the possiblity of allowing residents to live in RVs and travel trailers on their damaged properties for six months during the recovery. City ordinances prohibit living in those quarters in residential neighborhoods, but the council can vote for an exception.
The meeting will begin at 9 a.m. in the council auditorium next to the Orange Public Library on Fifth Street and is open to the public. The council schedules a time at the beginning of the meeting for citizen comments.
Other storm-related business includes hiring consultants to monitor debris pickup. The Federal Emergency Management Agency usually reimburses local governments for the costs od debris pickup after a disasters.
The council will also conduct a public hearing for the tax rate for the 2017-18 budget year, which starts October 1.
The proposed tax rate is 71 cents and 774 one-thousandth of a cent per $100 valuation. It’s less than a penny more than last year.
However, because of an overall increase in property appraisals, the city could raise the same tax income as last year with a tax rate of 66 cents and 937 one-thousandth of a cent per $100.
With the new rate, the owner of a $100,000 house with homestead exemption and no increase in property appraisal will pay about $6.68 a year more.
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