Commissioners propose rises in taxes, county worker wages

Young County Commissioners voted to slightly increase the local property tax rate at their Aug. 7 meeting and set a public hearing on the matter as they wind up their budget negotiations for fiscal year 2024.

The vote was 4-0 in favor of the rate, with Precinct 3 Commissioner Stacey Rogers absent.

The Commissioners took action on the tax rate as part of their annual budget-making process, which requires the matter to be discussed at a public hearing scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 21 at Young County Courthouse.

The Commissioners proposed raising the tax rate to 0.650652 percent per $100 valuation but expect the actual rate to be less because they are planning to use $812,000 in surplus funds to balance their $20.45 million budget for fiscal year 2024, County Judge Win Graham said.

Judge Graham filed a proposed budget with the County Clerk on Aug. 1 that included a pro- posed maintenance and operations property tax rate of 0.587674.

The Commissioners could have raised the local property tax rate to as much as 0.779355 percent per $100 without holding an election to have voters approve the increase.

The proposed budget, effective Oct. 1, 2023 through Sept. 30, 2024, will raise more total property taxes than last year’s budget by $389,507, and of that amount $209,507 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year, Judge Graham noted in his proposed budget.

“The number one reason for the increase in last year’s budget is a 5 percent raise for all employees,” Judge Graham said. “In this heavy inflationary period, we felt like it was important to give everyone a raise so that they can maintain their quality of life.”

Taxes owed under the proposed rate can be calculated as follows: Property tax amount = [tax rate] x [taxable value of property]/100 The Commissioners were finalizing their new budget at weekly workshops and may be ready for a final vote at their Aug. 21 meeting – about a month early, Judge Graham said.