COLDSPRING — The San Jacinto County Commissioners Court is looking to approve a tax rate that is roughly 2 ½ cents lower than last year.
At a Wednesday public hearing, the proposed tax rate for the 2025-26 fiscal year was .48291 per $100 in property valuation, down from the last fiscal year’s rate of .50776.
The change in cost to the average property owner would be around $32.
County Judge Fritz Faulkner said this was one of the biggest rate reductions the county has ever had since he has been preparing budgets.
Still, the county should see $825,734 in additional revenue based on increases in property valuation, which Faulkner said was necessary to offset rising costs of doing county business as well as providing raises for employees.
The budget contains an additional employee for the Tax Office and for the Animal Control Center, as well as other employee status changes.
Discussion moved toward the use of funds for road repair, given that there are state estimates that show the county should grow by 100,000 people in the next seven years.
Commissioner Mark Nettuno said since the county’s unencumbered general fund balance is about $7.5 million, and the Farm to Market fund is at about $2.8 million, that the Road and Bridge departments could tap into those funds for additional roadwork.
Faulkner, however, vehemently disagreed, saying that he didn’t think that it could happen since there are spending caps put out by the state, and that the commissioners should use up their own fund balances before tapping into the general fund.
