County commissioners adopt lower than proposed tax rate, budget

By LYNETTE SOWELL 

Cove Leader-Press 

After days of discussions and sometimes contentious back-and-forth discussions, last Thursday afternoon the Coryell County commissioners and county judge voted to adopt a tax rate and budget for fiscal year 2025. 

The commissioners voted and adopted a rate of $0.44824 per $100 valuation, a full 7.5 cents lower than the previously proposed rate which passed with a record vote on Aug. 15 by 3-2 margin. The first tax rate was a hike of 29.63 percent, which did not sit well with some of whom attended the last Thursday’s meeting in the morning. 

The adopted lower rate of $0.44824 per $100 valuation is a lesser increase of 7.5 percent compared to the current tax rate. 

The adopted tax rate includes $0.2963 which will go to the county’s general fund, $0.817 for the Road & Bridge fund, $045240 for the county’s debt service fund, $0.1000 for the county’s capital improvement fund, and $0.1500 to the county’s volunteer fire department fund. 

Coryell County Judge Roger Miller explained the reason for some of the increased budget expense numbers. 

“We have had some increased expenditures that are outside the control of your government, if you will. Our health insurance premiums went up significantly this year. Our property liability insurance policy that we carry through the Texas Association of Counties went up significantly this year. And in conjunction with the premiums going up, our deductibles under that policy have increased as well, based off some of the losses that have been reported in the county,” Miller said. 

“Of course, we have expenditures within the judicial system. I think our board of judges are doing a tremendous job in trying to prosecute and address legal cases as quickly as possible. And that’s tied to our inmate population, both in the county and out of the county. We did see an unanticipated increase in our jail population this past year, and we have projected expenditures based off what we experienced this past year.”

Miller also said the county was adding new positions, and likewise defended retaining the Emergency Management Coordinator position, with a $50,000 salary. 

However, the other commissioners overruled him on Thursday and deleted the EMC position from the budget, instead allocating $10,000 in the budget toward emergency management expenses. 

There are 10 new positions, with three of those being funded with grant funds out of Senate Bill 22, so at this point, it is not a direct cost to the taxpayer. 

Likewise, the commissioners also voted to formally adopt the budget with changes after taking no action last Thursday morning. 

Commissioner Matthews made the motion, which was seconded by commissioner Keith Taylor. 

The vote was 3-2 and passed, with Commissioners Kyle Matthews, Keith Taylor, and Scott Weddle, voting in favor of the budget, and Coryell County Judge Roger Miller and Commissioner Ryan Basham voting no.

County fund reserves went up to 19.8 percent with the amended budget, which is less than the recommended 25 percent reserve funds. 

The county’s no-new-revenue tax rate was calculated at $0.365250, which would bring in the same amount of revenue as the current fiscal year. 

The rate adopted by the county is less than the voter approval tax rate of $0.473760.

New properties added to the county tax roll will increase the property tax revenue in the amount of $499,865.

Altogether, with property tax revenue, sales tax revenue, and other revenues, the county projects to bring in $31,202,514.50. 

Projected expenditures total $38,227,167.70 in the budget. The county enters fiscal year 2025 with a fund balance of $12,552,408.00 and is projected to end fiscal year 2025 with $5,717,754.79 in reserves. 

The tax rate was ratified and adopted 4-1, with Judge Miller and Commissioners Matthews, Taylor, and Weddle casting aye votes, and Commissioner Basham voting no.