Hearings on Proposed County Tax Hike Announced

SAN ANGELO, TX — Tom Green County Judge Steve Floyd announced two public hearings to discuss the pending county property tax rate increase. The purpose of these hearings is for the commissioners’ court to hear public comment on the proposed tax rate for fiscal year 2020.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the commissioners’ court, the body determined the tax rate would need to increase from 0.5450 per $100 in property value to 0.55182 per $100 in property value.

When the commissioners voted for the tax increase, they also approved a 10 percent pay raise for county employees and a five percent raise for themselves and other county elected officials. Turnover of employees at the county was 34 percent this past year, the court was told. That number will rise since that turnover rate does not take into account the turnover in jailers since the privately owned jail facility opened in Eden this year.

Financing the criminal justice system, to include the district courts, the two district attorneys offices, the jail, and the Tom Green County Sheriff’s Office weigh heavily on the county budget.

“All you have to do is read San Angelo LIVE! to see why the county budget is under so much pressure,” Judge Steve Floyd said, pointing to the amount of crime in the county that is reported on this website. The county runs the county jail, and a new jail is nearing completion that will require 14 additional manpower units to comply with State regulations.

Up north, in Taylor County with Abilene as its county seat, the county tax rate is 0.6091 per $100 in property valuation, according to the Central Appraisal District of Taylor County. When adding the Abilene ISD tax rate (1.2024) and the City of Abilene tax rate (0.772), the combined property tax rate per $100 in property valuation charged to property owners inside the city of Abilene is $2.5837.

Midland County’s tax rate is just 0.14 per $100 in property valuation. However, Midland residents and businesses are subject to the Midland College taxing entity and the Midland County hospital taxing entity. When county, City of Midland, and the Midland ISD tax rates are combined with the college and hospital taxes, the combined tax rate for Midland property owners is 1.893178 per $100 in property valuation.

In San Angelo, only the San Angelo ISD (1.21), City of San Angelo (0.776), and Tom Green County (current 0.545) have a property tax. The combined tax rate for city of San Angelo property owners is 2.531 per $100 in property value.

Judge Floyd called for two public meetings to discuss the tax hike with citizens. The first will be held Tuesday, August 13 at 9:30 a.m. The second is scheduled for August 22 at 6:30 p.m. Both hearings will be held in the Tom Green County Commissioners’ Courtroom on the second floor of the Keyes Building at 113 W. Beauregard Ave.