Travis County Healthcare District, which operates as Central Health, plans to seek authorization from Travis County commissioners for $18 million of 20-year certificates of obligation to finance a new health clinic.
District officials said they are not sure the debt will be issued for the project, but want the flexibility of that option to take advantage of low interest rates.
The one board member who opposed the plan, Bobbie Barker, said she did so because of the district’s strong reserves.
The district, which serves Travis County and Austin, has $90 million in reserves. The proposed budget for fiscal 2011 is $107 million.
The district may ask county commissioners to approve an increase in its fiscal 2011 tax rate to 72.4 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value from the current rate of 67.4 cents.
John Stephens, district chief financial officer, said the higher rate would bring in $65 million, the same as in fiscal 2010, due to a drop in property values in Travis County. The increase in the rate would raise the property tax on an average residence valued at $222,231 to $160.90 a year, up $13.01 from the current average.
