No relief ahead

EDITORIAL

County financial situation probably headed for tax hike and cutbacks

It’s not what Milam County taxpayers want to hear, especially not those whose home appraisals just went up, and that would be most of us. But it appears the county is headed toward some combination of a tax increase and cutbacks on county services. It would certainly be understandable if home owners’ first reactions are along the lines of “didn’t everyone’s home values go up?” and “won’t that give county the money it needs?” Answers are “yes” (or pretty much “yes”) and “no.” It’s true. Home owner appraisals increased an average of 17 percent and that will generate more county revenue in that area this time around. But that pales in comparison to the impact of Luminant’s shutdown. When the power went off at Sandow Jan. 11 that facility became worth hundreds of millions of dollars less on the county tax rolls. County Judge Dave Barkemeyer said, even at the same 70-cent county tax rate, revenues look to be down about $1.7 million. The county’s net taxable value decreased to $1.509 billion, with the freeze-adjusted value being at $1.274 billion. Chief Appraiser Dyann White’s estimate of final value for 2018—the estimate of what values will be after the settlement of all protests—is $1.439 billion net taxable and $1.204 billion freeze adjusted taxable. The 2017 values after the settlement of the Luminant law suit and after resolution of all protests were $1.634 billion net taxable and $1.442 billion after freeze “If the commissioners court were to raise the county’s tax rate to 75 cents per $100 of valuation, an increase of five cents, we would raise about $600,000 in additional taxes,” he said. “If we went to 80 cents, which is the maximum tax rate that a county is allowed to assess by state law, we would raise an additional $1.2 million,” Barkemeyer said. So the only option left would be cutbacks in county services. Didn’t the county receive an unexpected half-million dollars from a law-enforcement cash seizure settlement in a civil suit? Yes, it did, and however it winds up in the budget mix it will help the situation somewhat. But only this year. That’s, obviously, not going to be a repeatable source of revenue. Barkemeyer cautioned all figures quoted above are preliminary. “But nevertheless, they indicated where we’re headed” he said.—M.B.