Maverick County Commissioners seek Tax Rate Increase for 2016-2017

By: Jose G. Landa, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2016

Maverick County Commissioners Court held a public hearing and regular meeting on Monday, September 12, 2016, to discuss Maverick County’s proposed 2016-2017 Tax Rate and Operating Budget.

Commissioners Court held a public hearing to discuss the proposed 2016-2017 Operating Budget and to hear all citizens’ input concerning the budget or tax rate.

Commissioners Court held a budget discussion which included all County Department Heads participation and review of their Department needs for 2016-2017 fiscal year.

County Judge David R. Saucedo is the Chief Budget Administrator and Sandra Watkins is the County Auditor. As Chief Budget Administrator, County Judge Saucedo is responsible for developing and approving the proposed 2016-2017 Fiscal Year Operating budget by Commissioners Court. Judge Saucedo discussed some changes to the proposed budget.

Some of the important items discussed were budget allocations, including a possible increase of funding of approximately $100,000 more for each of the four County precincts’ budgets to each Commissioner and an employee longevity pay to all county employees, and keeping all elected officials at their same respective rate of pay as this year.

Commissioners Court held a budget breakdown, department by department, and tackled all questions and concerns among other issues pertaining to the new proposed 2016-2017 Maverick County budget.

County Judge David R. Saucedo noted that the proposed 2016-2017 Fiscal Year Budget requires a tax rate increase to the maximum amount allowed by state law before a tax rollback may be called despite increased tax revenues projected next year due to the extremely high ad valorem property appraisals done by the Maverick County Appraisal District for 2016.

The proposed tax rate for 2016-2017 by Commissioners Court is $0.586535 per $100 ad valorem property tax valuation, including .088571 cents per $100 valuation for Debt Service and .497964 per $100 valuation for Maintenance and Operation. This signifies a tax rate compared to the current tax rate.

Other items discussed during the budget process were the revenues generated from the Maverick County Lake and other facilities that are rented or used by citizens throughout the fiscal year, service charges administered, and code enforcement revenues derived from non-compliance property cleaning.

Another item that was discussed during the workshop was funding to be designated for the Maverick County Sheriff’s Department, specifically the Tom Bowles Detention Center which is projected to be approximately $2,999,000 for the up-coming 2016-2017 fiscal year.

Commissioners Court will meet once more before cementing and setting a new budget and tax increase for the up-coming 2016-2017 fiscal year which is expected to have an increase of taxes by 8.5% as allowed by state law.

Maverick County Commissioners Court is the only local tax entity proposing a tax rate increase for 2016-2017 fiscal year. Both the City of Eagle Pass and Maverick County Hospital District announced keeping the same tax rate as this year, while the Eagle Pass Independent School District approved a slight tax rate decrease compared to this year’s tax rate.

Maverick County Commissioners Court is composed of County Judge David R. Saucedo and County Commissioners Roberto Ruiz, Jerry Morales, Pete Venegas, and Rosy Cantu.