Tax Rate Discussed by Commissioners

By Will Johnson

Messenger Reporter

HOUSTON COUNTY – As the summer season draws to a close, the budget and tax season for local governmental entities swings into high gear and on Tuesday morning, the Houston County Commissioners Court accepted the submission of the 2021 tax rate calculation.

The commissioners have not yet accepted a tax rate but this was the formal acceptance of the various tax rates Houston County might accept for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022.

Tax Assessor Laronica Wooten Smith provided information to the court which indicated in 2020 tax rate was $0.532 per $100 of property valuation which generated $8,228,309.51, based on a county-wide property appraisal total of $1,546,674,720.

The 2021 Houston County appraised value came in at $1,618,447,522. If the No-New Revenue rate – formally known as the effective tax rate – of $0.517085 was used, it would generate $8,368,749.37 in taxes.

According to Section 26.16 of the Texas Property Tax Code, “The effective tax rate is the rate that 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 that is taxable in both the current tax year and the preceding tax year.”

If last year’s tax rate of $0.532 was used, $8,610,140.82 would be generated. If the 2021 Voter approval Rate – formally known as the rollback rate – of $0.537425 was used, $8,697,941.60 in tax revenue would be generated.

The voter approval rate is “… the highest tax rate a taxing unit may adopt before requiring voter approval at an election,” according to the tax code.

There is also a new rate this year called the de minimis rate.

According to the Texas Comptroller’s Office, “The de minimis rate is a new tax rate calculation designed to give smaller taxing units, including cities with a population of less than 30,000, some relief from the three and a half percent voter-approval rate. The de minimis rate is the sum of a taxing unit’s no-new-revenue maintenance and operations rate; the rate that, when applied to a taxing unit’s current total value, will impose an amount of taxes equal to $500,000; and a taxing unit’s current debt rate. Voters may petition to hold a tax approval election if the de minimis rate exceeds the voter-approval rate and the adopted rate is equal to or lower than the de minimis rate but higher than the voter-approval rate.”

If Houston County implemented the de minimis rate of $0.549257, the county would generate $8,889,436.31 in tax revenue.

Smith indicated all calculations were based on 100 percent collections but added Houston County averages 99 percent on tax collections. The court unanimously approved accepting the submission of the 2021 Tax Rate Calculation. 

In other matters brought before the court:  

  • The commissioners approved the minutes from previous meetings.
  • Budget amendments were approved as were the payment of bills and expenses incurred by the county.
  • The Houston County Environmental and Community Service Reports were received as information by the court.
  • The court approved salaries for new and/or transfer employees.
  • The commissioners approved paying out accumulated comp time over 40 hours to county employees.
  • The court also approved a user license agreement for an online vital records request application with Permitium for birth/death certificates and certified copies of marriage licenses. 

Will Johnson may be contacted via e-mail at [email protected].   

.  

Similar Posts