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(ALEX HAVARDANSKY | THE GRAHAM LEADER) A crowd listens in on notable Young County budget items Monday, Aug. 25. Despite a large crowd, there were no public comments on the finalized budget.
After months of planning and coordination, the Young County Commissioners Court adopted the fiscal year 2025-2026 budget along with the tax rate for the county.
Both were adopted during the Monday, Aug. 25 meeting and will be effective Wednesday, Oct. 1.
The meeting started with an opening statement by Young County Judge Win Graham about the process of putting the budget together.
“After three months of work we are proud to present this budget to you for your comments,” Graham said. “... I believe this budget is well thought out and a responsible use of citizens’ tax dollars.”
After there were no public comments, both the budget and tax rate were passed unanimously on consecutive motions.
This year’s budget totals $19.4 million, an increase of $362,495 over the previous year’s budget, with changes over multiple departments.
Property taxes, at just under $9 million, make up over 46% of the revenue in the county’s upcoming budget. In the previous year’s budget, tax revenue accounted for 44% of revenue, and in the 2023-2024 budget, 37% of revenue.
According to calculations on the tax rate, the county will collect $598,510 more in tax revenue this fiscal year. While the tax rate was nominally lowered, from $0.586353 to $0.586350 per $100 of valuation, increases in property valuations account for the increase.
Another revenue source includes $1.2 million in “green energy abatements.” These include revenue from the wind farm project Young Wind as well as the planned hydrogen facility from Plug Power.
The county is currently in talks with Titus Low Carbon Ventures regarding the Tapaderos Solar project, a 300 megawatt solar power facility nine miles west of Eliasville. If an abatement is approved, the project has the potential to provide additional revenue to the county.
Young County budgeted $622,100 in grant funding from the state comptroller’s office through the Rural Law Enforcement Grant Program to assist the Young County Sheriff’s Office and the county and district attorneys’ offices.
The county was awarded $392,967 in funding from the Promoting Access to Crisis Teams (PACT) grant in 2024 which will be used over a period of two years. The federal grant is being used to fund mental health response training and de-escalation training along with nurses to assist YCSO and other county departments in mental health crisis situations. With some of the funding spent last year, $212,800 has been budgeted for the upcoming fiscal year.
As of Aug. 19, the county had received $1,483,539 of their budgeted sales taxes for the current fiscal year and has projected $1.75 million in sales taxes for the upcoming fiscal year.
The total general fund was raised to $13,720,041, an increase of $169,438 from last year’s budgeted amount of $13,550,603.
The most significant increase in this year’s budget came in the form of 3% raises in salaries for all county employees and elected officials. The county’s veteran service officer was moved from a part-time to full-time position, increasing the VSO budget from $35,830 to $50,500.
The Young County Jail saw a notable increase due to the creation of a building maintenance supervisor which was budgeted at $49,335.
Several major projects also impacted the budget. One substantial increase was for the construction of a new courthouse gazebo, increasing the Young County Courthouse grounds maintenance budget from $5,000 to $155,000.
The Olney Courthouse Annex saw an increase in expenses, from $21,707 to $47,432, which the county judge said will be used to renovate the annex and add a higher level of security.
Also impacting the Olney annex budget is the rental agreement with the city of Olney, which increased from $11,250 to $25,000 per year.
First responder expenditures saw an increase from $444,000 to $459,000, as the county increased their funding to Young County Rural and Olney Volunteer Fire Departments.
The budget for the Graham annex was cut in half, from $56,000 to $23,200, due to overbudgeting for expenses during last year’s workshops. Utilities and custodial supplies came in well under budget at 17.43% and 3.48% respectively, while “miscellaneous” expenses reached 573.18% of its budgeted amount of $2,500.
The overall budget for roads and bridges increased by more than $453,000. Precincts 1 and 3 budgets decreased by $36,000 and $18,327, respectively. The budget for Precinct 2 had an increase of over $22,000, with the most significant increase coming from Precinct 4 at $211,151 for the upcoming fiscal year.
The most significant Precinct 4 increases come from the addition of a new salaried employee, road maintenance materials, and more than $312,000 budgeted for new equipment, both financed and not financed.
Other notable changes:
• County Sheriff, $120,684 decrease
• County, District Court, $123,567 decrease
• Adult Probation, $55,318 decrease
• Ag Extension, $15,232 decrease
• Constable, Pct. 1, $6,110 decrease
• County Jail, $117,761 increase
• Computer/Tech, $80,594 increase
• Inmate Medical, $48,000 increase
• District Attorney, $31,549 increase
• County Attorney, $29,128 increase
• County Dispatch, $23,446 increase
• Helen Farabee MHMR, $12,964 increase
• District Clerk, $11,592 increase
• County Auditor, $11,579 increase
• County Judge, $11,534 increase
• County Tax Assessor-Collector, $11,296 increase
• Fort Belknap, $9,859 increase
• Juvenile Probation, $8,474 increase
• Tax Appraisal, $8,379 increase
• Justice of the Peace, Pct. 1, $7,879 increase
• Justice of the Peace, Pct. 2, $5,886 increase
• Historical Commission, $5,200 increase
