The Huntsville Item, Huntsville, TX

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September 1, 2008

County sets hearing on proposed tax rate

By Jay Ermis





A second public hearing on the proposed tax rate for Walker County will be held at 5:30 p.m. today as part of the Commissioners Court’s special session at the courthouse.

The public hearing is among 16 items on the agenda. The special session begins at 4:30 p.m.

The first of two public hearings regarding the proposed tax rate was held Aug. 25 and lasted but few a minutes.

County Judge Danny Pierce asked if anyone had a comment. There were no comments and

The hearing on the 2008-09 proposed budget will be held Sept. 15 during the court’s regular meeting and the court will consider adopting the budget.

The five-member court has proposed a tax rate of $0.5450 cents per $100 of assessed valuation — the same rate as this past year — and a proposed $23 million budget that includes a 5 percent pay increase for county employees.

The effective tax rate is $0.5279 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.

Pierce said overall increases in the cost of living kept the court from continuing its streak of lowering the tax rate as it has done the past four years.

Pierce said the effective tax rate is set to generate the same amount of tax revenue that it produced the previous year.

He said the court is not proposing to increase the tax rate, “but by adopting the $0.5450 cents that will generate more revenue than it generated last year because of an increase in property values.”

Also today, the court is scheduled to:

• Discuss and/or approve minutes for Aug. 25, 2008 - Ninfa Fuentes

• Discuss and/or approve acceptance of Emergency Management Performance Grant in the amount of $17,006 - Butch Davis

• Discuss and/or approve bill paying - Sharon Duke

• Discuss and/or approve claims/invoices submitted for payment - Patricia Allen

• Discuss and/or approve budget adjustments for FY 2008 - Patricia Allen

• Discuss and/or approve Long Distance Voice Services Only Agreement with AT&T; for one year - Linda McKenzie

• Discuss and/or approve standardizing Cisco network equipment for interoperability - Linda McKenzie

• Discuss and/or approve Certificate of Substantial Completion for Storm Shelter

• Discuss and/or approve variance on George M. and Beverly J. Bacon Family 15.44-acre tract in A-326, the George Lamb survey, on Paisano Lane (submitted by Baker G. McRae) - Andrew Isbell

• PUBIC HEARING TAX RATE (5:30 P.M.)

• Discuss and/or approve Proclamation 2008-32 “Constitution Week” - Danny Pierce

• Discuss and/or approve Contract for Services Agreement with Independent Contractor Wayne Walker and waive insurance requirements - B.J. Gaines, Jr.

• Discuss and/or approve Attachments “A” & “B” to the Volunteer Fire Departments' contracts - B.J. Gaines, Jr.

• Discuss and/or approve purchase of lawn care equipment for McGinty - Tim Paulsel

• Discuss and/or approve contract between Walker County and the Department of State Health Services for Vital Statistics functions - Danny Pierce

• BUDGET WORKSHOP

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