County sales tax now on horizon
Trinity Standard , June 2007

GROVETON – Businesses located outside the cities of Trinity and Groveton could soon be required to begin collecting a county sales tax under a plan outlined Monday in by Trinity County commissioners.
During their monthly meeting, County Judge Mark Evans announced the Texas legislature had approved HB 1720 which would allow Trinity County to begin collecting a ½ percent sales tax.
The cities of Trinity and Groveton currently assess a 2 percent sales tax and the county’s proposed ½ percent would not apply inside either city.
“Our ½ percent would only apply in the unincorporated areas of the county and it would require a local election before it could go into effect,” Evans said.
He noted that the law would not go into effect until Sept. 30 and that the local election could be scheduled for Nov. 6.
If approved by voters, the county sales tax would require the county to reduce its effective property tax rate to reflect the expected income from the ½ percent levy.
More than half of the state’s counties already assess a ½ percent sales tax but cities in those counties are limited to only a 1½ percent tax and the county tax is collected within city limits. By law, city and county sales taxes combined cannot exceed 2 percent.
A number of years ago, the legislature allowed cities to increase their sales tax to 2 percent provided that there was no county tax and that the additional ½ percent be earmarked for economic development.
Trinity and later Groveton took advantage of that law but in doing so, they effectively locked out Trinity County’s ability to adopt a sales tax.
HB 1720 will now allow counties with populations of less than 50,000 to collect their ½ percent in unincorporated areas provided voters give their approval.

Federal funding extended
In other discussion Monday, Evans announced the federal Secure Rural Schools Bill had been extended for one year by Congress.
The bill expired at the end of the 2006 fiscal year and the extension means that the county and local schools will get another check in either December of this year or January 2008.
About $600,000 is allocated to Trinity County under the program with half going to the county road and bridge department and the other half being divided among the county’s school districts.
The money is designed to offset the loss of property tax income caused by having the tax exempt Davy Crockett National Forest within the county.
For many years the U.S. Forest Service gave the county and schools a percentage of the money they received for the sale of timber out of the national forest.
When a number of lawsuits challenging USFS’s right to sell the timber all but stopped timber harvesting in the national forest, the money paid to the county and schools fell sharply.
Under the Secure Rural Schools Bill, the federal government appropriated funds at a set level to provide to counties and schools but the original five-year law expired last year.
Evans told commissioners Monday that work is now underway to develop a new funding plan that would run for four or five years.
 
Other business
During the meeting, commissioners also:
• Authorized Pct. 2 Commissioner Jannette Hortman to seek bids on surplus equipment, including a 1982 John Deere backhoe, a 1988 Chevrolet dump truck and a 1995 Freightliner dump truck.
• Tabled a request from Pct. 1 Constable Woody Wallace to approve Donald Fisher and Travis O. Bryan as deputy constables. Commissioners voted to delay the action one month because Bryan is not yet a certified peace officer and background checks had not yet been performed on either candidate. Wallace said both problems would be solved by the commissioners July 9 meeting.
• Rescheduled a public hearing on setting a 25 mile per hour speed limit on North Scrub Creek Road in Precinct 4 until the July 9 meeting. The incorrect section of the Texas Transportation Code was listed on the meeting agenda and County Attorney Joe Bell recommended the hearing be delayed until the problem is correct.
Pct. 4 Commissioner Travis Forrest said their should be not problem and said it would give him an opportunity to add the Groveton-Flat Prairie road to the 25 mph speed limit hearing.
• Approved the independent auditor’s report on the county’s FY 2006 finances.