Editor: Shannon Cottongame
September 15, 2021
The Hill County Commissioners Court met in a special session Tuesday, September 7, and adopted the county’s budget and tax rate for Fiscal Year 2021-22.
Adoption of the budget and tax rate wrapped up a series of budget hearings and workshops, a review of budget requests from county officials and assessment of the county’s current and future needs.
The overall adopted tax rate is $0.497242 per $100 valuation, which is almost two cents lower than last year’s rate but above the no-new-revenue rate that would have raised the same amount of revenue based on the same properties taxed in 2020 and 2021.
The total county tax rate is comprised of two rates: the general fund rate, which is used for general operating expenses; and the FM lateral rate, which can only be used to purchase road and bridge materials.
Commissioners adopted a general fund rate of $0.420202 per $100 valuation, which is the no-new-revenue rate and a decrease from the 2020 general fund rate of $0.439709.
The FM lateral portion of the tax rate is $0.07704 per $100 valuation, which is a decrease from the 2020 rate of $0.077392 but above the no-new-revenue rate.
The increased funding from the FM lateral rate will help the county address infrastructure needs as the area continues to experience rapid growth.
Following the adoption of the budget and tax rate, County Judge Justin Lewis thanked department heads and county officials for their assistance throughout the long process.
“I appreciate that when we didn’t agree at the end of the day, we stood up and shook hands and moved forward,” the judge said. “Everybody has laid their requests out and whether they got it or not, everybody has been respectful and professional, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that.”
In other special agenda items, the court approved minor amendments to the BT Pitts Dudik Solar tax abatement agreement to clean up areas of the document; approved renewal of the county’s GSuite services, including Google for Government Email and Google Drive services; and approved a bid from Southwest Filing and Storage to wrap up the county’s records storage project at the Support Services Building.
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