County close to setting tax rate for FY 2019

The Hays County Commissioners Court is a step closer to adopting a tax rate and budget for Fiscal Year 2019.

After a third budget workshop, the court voted unanimously last Tuesday on a proposed tax rate of 43.37 cents per $100 of valuation. Of the 43.37 cents, 26.53 cents would go toward general maintenance and operations, 12.46 cents would go toward debt and 4.38 cents would go toward road and bridge maintenance and operations. Last year’s tax rate was 44.5 cents per $100 of valuation; the proposed 43.37 is the effective tax rate, meaning it would generate the same amount of revenue in the current tax year as was generated by a taxing unit's adopted tax rate in the preceding tax year from property taxable in both the current and preceding tax year.  

The next steps in the tax and budget process are two public hearings on the tax rate — one on Sept. 4 and the second on Sept. 11 — and a public hearing on the budget on Sept. 18. The county is scheduled to set elected officials’ salaries, set the tax rate and adopt a budget on Sept. 18.

The commissioners' proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2019 includes expenditures of $312.7 million -- a decrease of more than $59 million from the current FY 2018 budget.

rblackburn@sanmarcosrecord.com

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