September 16, 2026

The signed tax notice: $0.803732. To the sixth decimal, the most the city can charge without an election

We pulled the City of Starbase's signed Form 50-876 tax-rate notice, and it settles a framing we'd been holding until a primary document said it: the proposed 2026 rate of $0.803732 per $100 is identical to the calculated voter-approval rate of $0.803732, the highest rate the city may adopt without triggering an election. The city didn't pick a round number; it proposed the legal ceiling to the sixth decimal place. (The no-new-revenue rate, what it would take to raise last year's dollars from the same properties, is $0.775093.) The form also records the vote on the proposal to consider the increase: Commissioner Buss, Commissioner Wallace, and Mayor Peden for; none against, none absent. And the total levy on all properties goes from $4,279,661 last year to a proposed $9,547,046, up 123%, reflecting both the higher rate and a tax base growing with the city's annexations.

One discrepancy we can't resolve yet, so we're showing both documents. The signed notice's impact table says the average homestead's taxable value fell 3.95% this year (to $46,328) and the average bill rises $265.28 → $372.35, up 40.36%. The September 4 meeting agenda's impact table (which we reported September 9) had that value rising to $58,034 and the bill going to $464.27. Both tables start from the same $48,232 base (the agenda called it the median, the form calls it the average), then diverge materially. The adopted ordinance and minutes still haven't posted; when they do, we'll reconcile the numbers and correct whichever version proves wrong, ours included.

Sources: City of Starbase — Form 50-876, Notice of Public Hearing on Tax Rate (PDF, signed) · City of Starbase — public notices

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