In the last week or two there has been a lot of chatter on social media, via emails or texts, and on the phone. Many folks have been asking thoughtful questions and some have given their opinions; we thank them for that. The late Congressman Jack Kemp is someone I have always looked up to as a public servant and much of the reason why is reflected in his belief that “leadership here means finding out where people want to go and figuring out a way to take them there.” That is what we have been aiming to do since coming into office last January, how to take Milam County to where we need to be.
A month ago, or so, it was brought up that other counties collect ad valorem taxes differently than we currently do here in Milam County. Of the 254 counties in Texas, roughly 100 collect their taxes through the Tax Assessor-Collector’s (TAC) office as we currently do here in Milam County, about 100 collect them through the County Appraisal District (CAD) office, and the remaining do it in various forms where some of the larger counties allow for the individual taxing entities to collect their own taxes. I spoke with several other judges who use these different methods and each of them suggested the same thing and that was to look into it and see what works best for Milam County.
In order to look at this suggestion and determine if it’s worthwhile for Milam County, the Milam County Appraisal District prepared a written proposal of the cost and the savings for the county. The Milam CAD agreed to do that, and this proposal was put on the agenda to allow the Commissioners’ Court to study the proposal and ask questions about it in order to make an informed decision.
As part of the public discussion, we decided to hold town hall meetings on this issue. We had already set a general town hall meeting for March 25th at the Workforce Solutions Conference Room, but in order to allow an opportunity to get more public input, we added two more town hall meetings as well. The meetings will be as follows:
• March 25, 6:30 p.m., Workforce Solutions Conference Room, One-Stop Center, Rockdale.
• March 27, 6:30 p.m., Bea’s Kitchen, Milam County Annex, Cameron.
• March 28, 6:30 p.m., Precinct 4 Annex, Thorndale.
In closing, please know that as your elected representatives to the Milam County Commissioners’ Court, we are working to be as transparent and open as possible. The commissioners and I want to know what the folks of Milam County have to say and what your opinions are on the subjects we are working on. For many people it’s pretty easy to sit at home and be a keyboard warrior, but as I have said plenty of times, if you want to know what is going on or want to talk about the issues, please give us a call, text us, email us, or come by and talk to us.
On a side note, at no time was it ever discussed to abolish the Tax Assessor- Collector’s office, nor was there ever a mention of merging the Tax Assessor- Collector’s office with the County Appraisal District. Honestly, there is no legal mechanism to do either of those things.
I look forward to seeing folks at the town halls and as always, I ask people to come out, be civil, be respectful, and be active. We’ll see you soon.
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