County proposes tax rate increase

Young County is preparing to hold public hearings for its proposed 2024-2025 budget and tax rate. The proposed tax rate for the county is an increase of a little more than four cents over the current rate of $0.587674 per $100 valuation.

The public hearings are planned to be hosted at 9:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 26 at the Young County Commissioners Court meeting at the Young County Courthouse, 516 Fourth St., Room 106. 

Young County commissioners recently discussed the proposed tax rate that will be in effect in the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The proposed tax rate is $0.63 per $100 valuation.

This is not the official tax rate for the coming fiscal year as there still needs to be a public hearing before commissioners vote on the exact rate they decide to implement.

The voter-approval rate for the county is $0.632547 per $100 valuation. The voter approval rate is the highest tax rate the county may adopt without holding an election to seek voter approval of the rate.

“I make a motion that we put our proposed rate, declare our proposed rate in our notice of public hearing to be a rounded number down of our voter approval rate as it currently sits right now,” Young County Judge Win Graham said at a commissioners court meeting Monday, Aug. 5.

County commissioners voted unanimously in favor of setting the proposed rate at $0.63 per $100 valuation. 
The no-new-revenue rate for the county is $0.553763 per $100 valuation. The no-new-revenue rate is the tax rate for the 2024 year that will raise the same amount of property tax revenue for Young County from the same properties in both the 2023 and 2024 tax years.

Young County’s de minimis tax rate is $0.591658 per $100 valuation. The de minimis rate is the sum of a taxing unit’s no-new-revenue M&O (maintenance and operations) rate; the rate that, when applied to a taxing unit’s current total value, will impose an amount of taxes equal to $500,000; and a taxing unit’s current debt rate.

“Your de minimis rate, which essentially gives you the exact same money (as the no-new-revenue M&O rate) plus $500,000, that's all it does,” chief appraiser Jesse Blackmon said.

With regards to the budget, county commissioners have made progress throughout the summer and are nearing the end where they will present their proposed budget to the public. There are still some changes to be made in order to fit with the proposed tax rate and other aspects of the overall budget, but a majority of it has been completed.

“We're hoping we have some consensus on the proposed budget that we can then look at in detail next Monday (Aug. 11),” Graham said.

Following the public hearings Monday, Aug. 26 for the proposed tax rate and budget, the county will consider adoption of the budget and tax rate.