The City of Live Oak is committed to financial management through integrity, prudent stewardship, planning, accountability, full disclosure and communication. The broad purpose of the Fiscal and Budgetary Policies is to enable the City to achieve and maintain a long-term stable and positive financial condition, and provide guidelines for the day-to-day planning and operations of the City's financial affairs.

Policy scope generally spans areas of accounting and financial reporting, internal controls, both operating and capital budgeting, revenue management, investment and asset management, debt management and forecasting. This is done in order to:

• Demonstrate to the citizens of Live Oak, the investment community, and the bond rating agencies that the City is committed to a strong fiscal operation;
• Provide precedents for future policy-makers and financial managers on common financial goals and strategies;
• Fairly present and fully disclose the financial position of the City in conformity to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP); and
• Demonstrate compliance with finance-related legal and contractual issues in accordance with the Texas Local Government Code, City Charter and other legal mandates.

Accounting, Auditing and Financial Reporting

• Accounting – The City is solely responsible for the recording and reporting of its financial affairs, both internally and externally. The Director of Finance is the City's Chief Financial Officer and is responsible for establishing the structure for the City's Chart of Accounts and for assuring that procedures are in place to properly record financial transactions and report the City's financial position.
• Audit of Accounts – An independent audit is performed annually by an external auditor.
• Financial Reporting – The Finance Department is responsible for all required internal and external financial reporting. This reporting is necessary to sufficiently plan, monitor, control and review the City's financial position. Types of reports include monthly and quarterly financial reports, annual budgets and comprehensive annual financial reports (audits).
• Purchasing - The Finance Department provides purchasing support by assisting all departments responsible for solicitation of formal sealed bids, requests for proposals, quotations, cooperative purchasing arrangements and physical inventory and fixed assets
• Utility Administration - The Finance Department provides administrative services for the City of Live Oak owned water and sewer service.

Left to right: Finance Director, Leroy Kowalik - Mayor Mary Dennis

Sales Tax Information

The sales tax rate within the City of Live Oak is 8.25%.

• 6.25% to the State
• 1.00% to the City
• .50% to the City for the reduction of its property tax rate
• .50% to Economic Development Corporation

Sales tax is collected by the State of Texas. To obtain more information please visit the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

Property Tax Information

The tax rate for the City of Live Oak for FY2021/22 is .410220 cents per $100 assessed value. Property taxes are billed in October of each year, but they do not become delinquent until February 1 of the next year. The Bexar County Tax Assessor/Collector bills and collects the City's property taxes. See 2021/22 Tax Rate Ordinance 1621. (The tax rate for the City of Live Oak for FY2020/21 was .412217 cents per $100 assessed value.)

If you have questions about your property tax bills, please contact:

Bexar County Tax Assessor Collector
210.335-2251

Judson Independent School District
210.945-5535

The Bexar County Appraisal District is responsible for determining the value of all properties on the tax roll. For specific questions regarding your appraisal, please contact:

Bexar County Appraisal District
210.224-2432

Finance Staff:

• Director of Finance
  Leroy Kowalik - 210.653.9140, ext. 2216
• Accounting and Human Resource Manager
  Jackie Malloy - 210.653.9140, ext. 2214
• Purchasing and Budget Analyst
  Jeremy Whittlesey - 210.653.9140, ext. 2215
• Accounting and Payroll Specialist (Accounts Payable/Payroll)
  Shelly Radley - 210.653.9140, ext. 2218

The City of Live Oak has contracted with GovDeals for the disposal of salvage and surplus materials as well as Police Department siezed property. To obtain information regarding this process, visit their website at GovDeals.

All times on GovDeals.com are in Eastern Time. Example, if the sale begins at 10AM ET it is 9AM CST for Live Oak, Texas.

The next City of Live Oak online auction - TBD.

Items will be available to view online the day of the auction. To register as a bidder, please click here GovDeals.

To search for Live Oak auctions specifically, click on the GovDeals icon at the top of this page. If Live Oak does not have a live auction in progress, Live Oak will not be listed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Doing Business with the City

The City of Live Oak welcomes the opportunity to do business with interested vendors in the community. The City’s Purchasing Office is interested in fostering participation with all qualified businesses offering commodities to make the most economical acquisition of quality materials and services that will assure efficient operation of city government. Competitive participation from the business community is vital to ensuring the City receives the best value in all purchases. Contact information is below.

Procurement Methods

Purchases below $3,000 do not require a set number of quotes but a minimum of two (2) quotes is recommended when possible.

Purchases in the amounts of $3,000 to $49,999 may be made on the basis of three (3) quotations, taking into consideration State Law requiring Historically Underutilized Businesses (HUBS) availability, and local vendor availability.

Purchases $50,000 and above and above are subject to requirements of the competitive bid process which requires formal advertising of sealed bids/proposals unless specifically exempted by State Law. These purchases will be formally advertised in the local newspaper.

Cooperative and Interlocal Contracts will be utilized when deemed to be in the best interest of the City. The City has interlocal agreements with Texas Cities which allows the use of those entities contracts in addition to State contracts and other entities such as Buy Board.

General Requirements

Purchase Orders are required on all purchases over $3,000 including purchases made through the City procurement card by authorized users. Purchase orders will serve as a legally binding contract for the receipt and payment for a good or service.

Delivery: Delivery of goods must be made to the location indicated on each Purchase Order unless otherwise specified. The City’s normal business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The City does not utilize a registered vendor file. Please send all inquiries or product/service information to the email below.

NOTICE TO VENDORS

Certificate of Interested Parties – Texas Ethics Commission (Form 1295)

In 2015, the Texas Legislature adopted House Bill 1295, which added section 2252.908 of the Government Code and applies to all contracts entered into on or after January 1, 2016. The law states that a governmental entity may not enter into certain contracts with a business entity unless the business entity submits a disclosure of interested parties to the governmental entity at the time the business entity submits the signed contract to the governmental entity. The law applies to all contracts/purchases of a governmental entity that require an action or vote by the governing body of the entity.

With regards to City of Live Oak purchases, a vendor that is awarded a contract or purchase that is greater than $50,000 is required to electronically create a Form 1295 through the Texas Ethics Commission website and submit a signed and notarized copy of the form to the City. A contract, including City-issued purchase order, will not be enforceable or legally binding until the City receives and acknowledges receipt of the properly completed Form 1295 from the awarded vendor.

Disclosure of Interested Parties

Section 2252.908 of the Texas Government Code requires a business entity entering into certain contracts with a governmental entity to file a disclosure of interested parties prior to the time the business entity enters the contract with the City. Section 2252.908 requires the disclosure form (Form 1295) to be signed and notarized by the authorized agent of the contracting business entity. Section 2252.908 applies only to a contract that requires an action or vote by the governing body of the governmental entity before the contract may be signed or has a value of at least $1 million. Section 2252.908 provides definitions of certain terms occurring in the section.

Section 2252.908 applies only to a contract entered into on or after Jan. 1, 2016.

The form must be submitted electronically through the Texas Ethics Commission website.

Once the form is submitted and given a unique registration number, the business entity must manually sign the form and have it notarized. The form should be sent to the City which will then verify the form on the Texas Ethics Commission website.

The Purchasing Division of the Finance Department is charged with the following responsibilities:

• Procuring goods and services and performing these purchases in accordance with state and local requirements.
• Assuring fair and equitable treatment to all vendors and to all City departments without regard to political pressure
• Supervising all purchases made through competitive bids and cooperative contracts.

As a local government, the City of Live Oak encourages competition among potential vendors to obtain quality goods and services at the best prices available, to maximize tax dollars.

Chapter 176 of the Texas Local Government Code requires that any vendor or person considering doing business with a local government entity disclose in the Questionnaire Form CIQ, the vendor or person's affiliation or business relationship that might cause a conflict of interest with a local government entity.

By law, this questionnaire must be filed with the records administrator of the City of Live Oak no later than the 7th business day after the date the person becomes aware of facts that require the statement to be filed. See Section 176.006, Local Government Code. A person commits an offense if the person violates Section 176.006, Local Government Code. An offense under this section is a Class C misdemeanor.

For more information regarding Chapter 176 of the Texas Local Government Code, visit Texas Ethics Commission.

Contact:

Vendor visits by appointment only