County lowers tax rate, passes $19 mln budget

County Commissioners lowered the property tax rate and adopted a $19 million budget for fiscal year 2024-2025, squeezing in a 5 percent costof- living raise for county employees, a new fire truck, and a bump in mental health services spending.

While Young County residents will see a lower tax rate, most will pay higher property taxes as a result of higher property appraisals countywide, County Judge Win Graham said.

The Commissioners approved a tax rate of $0.586960 per $100 valuation for the coming fiscal year, starting Oct. 1, down slightly from $0.587674 for the current fiscal year. Precinct 3 Commissioner Stacey Rogers was the lone dissenting vote against the budget and the tax rate.

“This is an ongoing situation that has happened more than just this year,” Mr. Rogers said of the budget increase. “They are spending more and more money – in the last 16 years they have doubled the budget.”

Mr. Rogers said he opposed the decision to create more full-time positions at this time, as well as the disparity in the monies given to the Graham and Olney ambulance services, with Olney receiving less. “They gave increases in places where it wasn’t even request- ed. I have concerns about that,” he added.

The new budget “brings both good news and bad news,” Judge Graham said before the public hearing held Aug. 26 ahead of the budget and tax rate vote. “The good news is that I expect a reduction in the county’s tax rate. However, the bad news is that this will lead to a tax increase for the residents of Young County due to a 6.69 percent increase in the average taxable homestead value.

While lower, the new tax rate will bring in 10.7 percent, or $807,949 more in revenue than last year’s higher rate, Judge Graham said. The property tax revenue raised from new property added to the tax roll this year is $262,913.

County residents with a $100,000 home will see their taxes increase by $32.59 next year, Judge Graham said.

The budget will be primarily funded by $8.4 million in property taxes, $1,65 million in sales tax, $1.2 million in green energy tax abatements, $400,000 from anticipated fees for housing outof- county prisoners in the Young County Jail, $607,000 in grant funds, and a $970,000 reinvestment of the county’s reserves, Judge Graham said.

Several citizens attended the public hearing to encourage the Commissioners to lower the tax rate even further, to the no-new-revenue option of $0.553763 per $100 valuation “I just simply want to encourage the Commissioners of the court to please approve the lower tax rate,” Jon Garvey of Precinct 4 said. “People are hurting.”

The commissioners voted to allocate $15,000 in start-up funds to the ARC of Graham for their new Day Habilitation facility in Young County after Helen Farabee Centers said it would discontinue those services. The commissioners increased Helen Farabee’s budget by 25 percent above the $27,475 the mental health provider received last year from the County but far below the $89,237 it requested.

The Commissioners and Judge Graham have been meeting in weekly budget workshops since early June with County Auditor Cheryl Roberts and County Treasurer Kyle Milam. The higher budget reflected increased expenses due to inflation, salary increases, and needed facilities maintenance, he said.

The salary increases added about $250,000 to the budget, averaging around $2,500 per person. The Commissioners approved the creation of three new full-time positions – in the District Clerk’s office, the Tax Assessor- Collector’s office and the County Auditor’s office –”to address the growing county responsibilities,” Judge Graham said.

The Commissioners also included a provision of $425,000 for five new Sheriff ’s Department vehicles.

The County also updated the pay scale for court-appointed attorneys, which had not seen a rise in at least 25 years, Judge Graham said. “To address this long-standing issue, we have adjusted the fees to align with the lower range of those paid by other counties of similar size,” he said, which added $151,000 to the budgets for the District and County courts.

The new budget and tax rate take effect on Oct. 1.