Government
BY JESSICA SHORTEN
Following three days of budget workshops, Montgomery County commissioners approved a tax rate of $0.379 per $100 valuation in a 3-1 vote on Sept. 5, raising the county tax rate for the rst time in ve years and narrowly avoiding a voter- approval tax rate election, or VATRE. “I don’t know how else to do this,” Montgomery County Judge Mark Keough said. “We’ve labored Montgomery County sees first tax rate increase in 5 years
over and over and over. I don’t know what else to do, but I am comfortable with the fact that we are taking care of the people of Montgomery County.” Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack and Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray both opposed the tax rate increase due to concerns over the tax burden on homeowners. However, Budget Director Amanda Carter told commissioners the majority of the funding issues were for necessary upgrades to law enforcement and information technology to keep up with needs from departments across the county. “Prioritize your items that are important for you and your constituents, and then, as we calculate all those, then that will basically get you to your tax rate,” Carter said. “Don’t focus on building your budget around ... your tax rate.”
County property tax rate (per $100 valuation)
Tax rate
Voter-approval rate
$0.50 $0.40 $0.30 $0.20 $0.10 $0
$0.3875
$0.4475
$0.379
SOURCE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY TAX OFFICE COMMUNITY IMPACT
The breakdown
In their words
Montgomery County Tax Assessor-Collector Tammy McRae said $23.03 million in new revenue will be generated by property tax revenue in 2025; however, Carter said the court already obligated $19 million to costs such as sta funding and equipment needs through the year. “The situation is we cannot continue doing exactly the same services at the same price,” Carter said. “You can see that in a lot of the departments’ budgets, ... there’s not a single department that got the exact budget that they requested.” Carter said the county’s Capital Improvement Plan has not been continually replenished, and that with funding new positions, only $1 million will be set aside for capital improve- ments in the next year amid over $9 million in new funding requests.
New funding needs in 2025:
“People are hurting; their paychecks don’t go as
far as they used to.” JAMES NOACK, PRECINCT 3 COMMISSIONER
3.3% cost-of-living increase: $6.18 million
11 new constable deputies: $2.28 million
Technology upgrade: $321,638
“Every time we try to push something down the road and push it o and do something else, our county keeps growing.” MARK KEOUGH, MONTGOMERY COUNTY JUDGE
SOURCE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY BUDGET OFFICE COMMUNITY IMPACT
Through the budget process, the county identi ed nearly $9.5 million in additional funding needs above the $457 million in the total base budget.
What’s next?
while a $500 million bond would provide a $0.02 increase on the debt service portion of the tax rate. This could provide more room for commissioners to place county infrastructure projects on a bond issue. Commissioners previously agreed in June to seek a bond election in May 2025.
issue as well as potential issue of certi cates of obligation for major county roof repairs and maintenance. John Robuck, managing advisor for BOK Financial, provided an updated presentation based on the new tax rate on Aug. 15. Robuck told the court a $450 million bond would not have an e ect on the tax rate if approved,
Since the FY 2024-25 tax rate is above the no-new-revenue rate of $0.3480 per $100 of valuation, a public hearing was required by Texas law to provide an opportunity for residents to comment on the increase Sept. 6. With the passage of the tax rate, multiple commissioners agreed the county will need to focus on infrastructure in a future bond
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CONROE MONTGOMERY EDITION
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