New state tax laws to decrease city general fund by 16 percent if enacted

Coppell to pause capital purchases in anticipation of decrease in revenue

Shriya Vanparia

Coppell plans to hold capital purchases as it plans for its yearly revenue to decrease by 16 percent. The city will lose $12 million in business tax revenue due to new state tax laws taking effect in April.

Emma Meehan, Staff Writer
January 16, 2020

Sixteen percent of Coppell’s yearly budget is in jeopardy due to a new state tax law, according to city manager Mike Land. The new tax law will change tax revenue collected from business sales from origin to destination source. 

Currently, cities collect tax from items produced within the municipality, but cities will begin to collect tax from items sold within the municipality. Large cities in Texas anticipate larger business tax revenue, while smaller cities and those with production facilities anticipate less revenue when the change takes effect in April. 

Coppell expects to lose $12 million in revenue each year and the city will hold capital purchases while it plans how to manage the decrease in money available in the general fund. Land hopes to minimize the effect on the quality of services provided by the city.

Coppell plans to work with other cities that will be hurt by the new tax law, including Frisco, Round Rock and Carrollton, to combat the new law.

City Council places 1, 3, 5 and 7 are up for election May 2. Applications for new voters are due at the voter’s registrar’s office April 2. 

In the absence of Coppell Mayor Karen Hunt, mayor pro tempore Mark Hill named the months of January to March 2020 as “H-E-B Community Challenge Months”, focusing on community health and wellness as part of the It’s Time Texas Community Challenge, presented by H-E-B. 

Hill hopes to transform the health of Coppell and challenges the community to repeat the city’s first place finish in mid-sized Texas cities last year.

The city approved Coppell High School obtaining an additional campus school resource officer. Police Chief Danny Barton hopes to strengthen the bonds between Coppell Independent School District and the city’s police through the school resource officer program, which Coppell has utilized to protect students for over two decades.

The establishment of the Municipal Performing Arts Center was approved. Land will operate the new center in Old Town Coppell.

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