CITY & COUNTY
News from Tomball, Magnolia and Harris & Montgomery counties
County cuts budget, waits on tax rate vote HARRIS COUNTY Commissioners voted 3-0 to adopt an amended scal year 2022-23 budget during their Sept. 13 meeting, but they delayed a recommended the court adopt the amended budget— which is $104 million smaller than the $2.24 billion budget proposed Aug. 23—to avert a government shutdown. BY RACHEL CARLTON
But Daniel Ramos, the executive director of the O ce of Management and Budget, reiterated what he said during an Aug. 2 meeting that all depart- ments would face some level of cut. “Across the board, our costs are going up,” Ramos said. “In addition, each one of [the depart- ment’s] positions costs more than it did in short scal year [20]22.” The nal deadline to vote to adopt tax rates is Oct. 28, Berry said. The budget o ce had recom- mended the voter-approval rate for the HCFCD and a rate slightly lower than the voter-approval rate for the county’s general fund, both of which automatically drop to the no-new-revenue rate if the commissioners cannot reach a quorum to vote on the tax rates. The HCFCD’s no-new-revenue rate leaves the district’s budget at $114 million, which is $23.1 mil- lion less than the proposed budget. According to their respective statements, Ramsey and Cagle will pledge $7 million from each of their precinct’s budgets to the HCFCD. However, the HCFCD said it had not received details.
vote on the county’s tax rates until Sept. 27. Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey and Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle released email statements at the beginning of the meeting con rming they would not show to vote on the proposed overall tax rate of $0.57508 per $100 of assessed value—a 1% decrease from the previous year’s rate of $0.58135. “We were only beginning to get back on our feet from the economic burdens imposed by COVID[-19] restrictions when historic in ation levels came along and knocked many of us at again,” Cagle said. “Now is not the time for local government to take advantage of in ated property appraisals to pay for an expanded government footprint.” Without a four-member quorum, the court could not legally vote to adopt a set of tax rates. Instead, Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis, Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia and Hidalgo voted 3-0 to adopt the annualized version of the short scal year 2022 budget for the county and the Harris County Flood Control District. County Administrator David Berry said he
County Judge Lina Hidalgo presents the news release from Precinct 4 Commissioner Jack Cagle stating he would not appear at the court meeting Sept. 23.
RACHEL CARLTON COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
BALANCING BUDGETS Harris County adopted an amended budget for scal year 2022-23 on Sept. 13 that is smaller than the previously proposed budget for the upcoming scal year.
$104M The adopted budget is less than the previously proposed budget for scal year 2022-23.
The county has proposed a 1% decrease in its tax rate to
per $100 valuation. $0.57508
Harris County commissioners must adopt a tax rate by OCT. 28.
SOURCE: HARRIS COUNTY COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
Custom doesn’t need to be complicated If you’re ready to build a new custom home on your land, look no further. We have simplified the custom home building process and delivered beautiful homes throughout Texas for over 25 years.
COME SEE OUR NEW MODEL HOME. Republic Grand Ranch 15595 Republic Ranch Rd. | Willis, Texas 77378
INFORMATION SCAN FOR
SIERRACLASSIC.COM
20
COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
Powered by FlippingBook