As a guest of the Livingston Lions Club, County Judge Sydney Murphy recently presented a program on the state of the county.
Addressing property taxes, Murphy said the 2015 tax rate – when she was elected to the office – was $0.6164 with no exemption provided by the county. A taxpayer with a home valued at $100,000 paid $646.10 in county property taxes; one with a home valued at $200,000 paid $1,292.20 and one with a $500,000 home paid $3,320.50.
“In 2023, the Court decided to provide some kind of relief to homeowners on their residential homesteads,” Muphy said.
The 2025 tax rate is $0.5986 with a 20% exemption. Therefore, a taxpayer with a $100,000 home will pay $478.88 in county property taxes; one with a home valued at $200,000 will pay $957.76; and one with a $500,000 home will pay $2,394.40.
“According to the census bureau, home ownership in Polk County is 78%,” Murphy said.
Reviewing the effect of economic development on property taxes, Murphy said county property tax revenue by 2027 is expected to be approximately $1,000,600+ and by 2034, is expected to be approximately $1,800,600+.
“That’s where the relief to homeowners comes from. These projects help decrease the tax burden on residents and add monies to the county budget for infrastructure needs,” Murphy said. “We have never done a tax abatement that was not favorable to our residents and our local businesses.
“Economic development follows transportation and one of the things I’m most proud of is receiving the Texas Department of Transportation Road Hand Award, one of only five or six given each year,” she said, adding, “I’ve been working on the I-69 project since I was at the chamber of commerce.”
Murphy said the county has received grants totaling $46 million since 2018 and she pointed to a map illustrating the locations of the grants the county has been managing during that time. “That equates to $4.22 to every $1 for the county,” she said.
Explaining the water infrastructure grant and partnerships, Murphy said the Court started with the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds and Hurricane Harvey mitigation funds.
“In the unincorporated areas of the county, we have no authority over water companies, so we basically managed our own grant program where we went to all of them and asked them to create their wish list. The water corporations all report to TCEQ. We don’t have oversight over them. They are privately owned businesses with their own staff and boards. The water companies were offered grant partnerships and those that chose to partner were required to provide a 25% match to Polk County’s 75%,” Murphy said, adding that some elected not to participate. Those that participated include Onalaska, Damascus Stryker, Providence, Dallardsville Segno, Soda, Shiloh Ridge and Tempe.
There were also fiber connectivity and communication partnerships. “What could be more important than connecting schools, healthcare and businesses to internet and broadband. We formed a partnership with Eastex Telephone and Highline. Highline was a 50/50 match, but Eastex was a 60/40 match with Eastex paying 60%. Since then, Eastex has continued to build out, capitalizing on the ARPA influx that built the fiber backbone and connected our communications tower. Now, it would probably be closer to 80/20,” Murphy said.
“Eastex provided connectivity to our 440-foot communications tower, which now provides complete connectivity during an emergency. ARPA, water, connectivity, broadband – that closed the gap for us,” she said.
Murphy also addressed the restoration of the Polk County Courthouse, a project she said has been “decades in the making.”
Presenting a timeline of the county’s preservation efforts, she said the Texas Legislature created the Texas Historic Courthouse Preservation Program in 1999. In 2000, the county hired Brooks/Coronado to develop a master plan for courthouse renovation and expansion and submitted a historic courthouse master plan for Texas Historical Commission (THC) funding consideration.
In 2001, the county formally began pursuing THC grant funding for courthouse restoration and all review authority was placed with THC. In 2012, a THC emergency grant was awarded for the courthouse elevator and a THC conservation easement was established, legally requiring THC oversight. In 2014, the county was awarded emergency funding for courthouse roof repairs.
“The minute you get that historic designation, the THC will be in your life from now on. It very specifically states that property cannot be altered, damaged, excavated,” Murphy said. “Take the elevator grant. Because the county had defaced the front of the building, the elevator had to be brought inside and relocated.
“By 2015, restoration planning had been underway for 15 years, multiple grants had been awarded or completed and historic protections were already in place. That’s when I came in. An application was submitted in 2020 Round XI at an initial cost estimate of $10,103,625 at a rate of $706 per square foot,” Murphy said.
“In 2022 we had to borrow money at 2.3% because COVID had spiked all prices. Once state government (THC) returned to work post-pandemic in late 2022 we were allowed to request bids for construction manager as constructor and selected JC Stoddard. The cost of construction had increased. Labor shortages and supply chain disruptions had impacted the bid of construction materials. The project was awarded at a cost of $15,732,842,” Murphy said, adding, “Federal interest rates peaked at 5.5 % and for an extended period of time we were making money off the money we borrowed.
“In 2001, the courthouse was designated a State Antiquities Landmark which is the highest level of historical designation offered by the State of Texas and all review authority is conceded to the state. This designation stipulates that a property cannot be removed, altered, damaged, salvaged or excavated without a permit from the THC. In effect, the THC’s review authority would have been the same with or without funding,” Murphy said. “There’s no fault. There’s no one we can point at. There’s no one we can blame. And a lot of the things that are required for historic buildings aren’t even manufactured in the United States.”
Moving on to law enforcement pay, Murphy addressed the SB22 monies that were geared toward law enforcement. “We’re trying to bring our employees up. Our health insurance is wonderful, but wonderful doesn’t come cheap. We used all SB22 monies to assist somewhere in the sheriff’s office, but the State of Texas will claw it back and at that point, it will become a taxpayer bill. We have to lift them up. We have people who are eligible for government assistance. We also have to make sure our budget is balanced,” she said.
“We have received the Government Finance Officers Association award every year since I’ve been here, even the year I came in and we had the $1.4M deficit. And the IAH Secure Adult Detention Facility, the bondholders have now been paid off, so the revenue will now be coming to the county. At this point, we’re waiting for ICE to sign contracts,” Murphy said.
