The Hill County Commissioners Court voted to approve the tax rate and budget for the coming year after no citizens spoke during a public hearing on the proposals Tuesday, August 26.
The approved total combined tax rate for the county is $0.452647 per $100 property valuation, which breaks down to $0.387769 for the general fund and $0.064878 for the FM lateral (road and bridge) rate.
The tax rate is just under the voter-approval rate of $0.452649, which would trigger an election to allow voters to approve the increase.
Compared to last year’s tax rate of $0.405867, the proposed rate is an 11.52% increase.
The average taxable value of a homestead in the county increased about 6% to $194,947 this year. On the average home, county taxes will increase from $746 to $882 with the adopted rate.
According to the approved budget, the county will raise over $2.5 million more property tax revenue than last year, with over $1.7 million of that amount from new property added to the tax rolls.
The finalized budget included a few changes over the document initially proposed by County Judge Shane Brassell as commissioners continued to work through the numbers.
The final document includes a salary for the county surveyor position, which was previously an unpaid job, as the county plans to develop a services department and combine several offices under one department head.
A request from the Hill County Fair board for the county to put $34,000 towards the cost of new restrooms at the fairgrounds was also included in the final plan.
An adjustment was also made to increase funding for the Juvenile Probation Department, bringing that total to the requested $275,000 rather than the $192,500 in the proposed budget.
The budget will also include more money for commissioners’ road and bridge projects, with the amount precincts receive from the general fund raised from 8% to 12% for the coming year.
The full fiscal year 2026 budget can be viewed online at co.hill.tx.us under the “Financial Transparency” tab.
The Lakelander 