Commissioners pass FY 2024 budget, tax hike

The Young County Commissioners Court passed its Fiscal Year 2024 budget and a small tax hike during a 14-minute meeting in which no members of the public showed up to comment.

Young County Judge Win Graham thanked County employees and the Commissioners and other elected officials for “taking the process seriously.”

The new tax rate is approximately 0.587674 percent per $100 valuation, compared with approximately 0.587609 per $100 valuation.

The budget will raise more revenue from property taxes than last year’s budget by $562,945, which is an 8 percent increase from last year’s budget, Judge Graham said.

The property tax revenue raised from new properties added to the tax rolls is $209,507, he said.

Major sources of revenue for this year’s budget are: $7.6 million in property taxes; $1.7 million in sales taxes’ $1.2 million in green energy zones and tax abatements; $1 million in reinvestments of Young County reserves; and $500,000 in the form of Senate Bill 22, Sheriff ’s office and criminal justice grants, he said.

“The most expensive item added to this budget was a five percent raise in salaries for our employees,” he said. “Additionally we are planning on finishing out our new courthouse annex at 417 Second Street and making some much needed improvements to our 91-year-old courthouse.”

“We are making an investment in upgrading our Sheriff ’s Office equipment and vehicles” as well as capital improvement to the Young County arena and a budget bump for the Emergency Management Service primarily for fighting wildfires, he said.

No one appeared to testify at the public hearing. The Commissioners adopted the budget unanimously. It will become effective on Oct. 1.