Houston County Sets Proposed Tax Rate; Renews Burn Ban
By Greg Ritchie
Messenger Reporter
HOUSTON COUNTY – The Houston County Commissioners Court met Tuesday, Aug. 22 to work on their new budget, including the new proposed tax rate and to renew the burn ban for the county through Sept. 26, 2023.
The current burn ban was set July 25 and has now been renewed with the hot and dry conditions showing no signs of getting better. All outdoor burning continues to be banned until Sept. 26, unless the order is rescinded before then. Houston County Judge Lovell repeated his plea from a similar meeting one year ago asking commissioners to “…pray for rain.”
The commissioners also held a budget workshop and voted to set the proposed tax rate for the county at $0.448 per $100 of appraised property value which is the same as the previous. The court will hold a meeting for public comments and to vote on the proposed tax rate at their next meeting, Tuesday, Sept. 12 at 9 a.m.
The court accepted a donation from Susan Young to the Houston County Child Welfare Board as a memorial to Wanda Nichols who supported the board for many years and who passed away earlier this year. Tammy Bruner and Pastor Tim Allen were on hand to represent the board and thanked the court for all of their support. Judge Lovell thanked the group for their work and became emotional, telling the court Mrs. Nichols was not only his mother-in-law, but also “…effectively like a mother to me and we both felt that way.”
The human resources committee for the county was represented by Jan Pigford who made recommendations to the court for travel allowances county employees may use when travel is required, setting the 2024 holiday schedule and setting time changes for county law enforcement officials. Errors were found were some deputies were overpaid by two hours during 14-day periods with the commissioners approving amending the policy and eliminating any overpayments.
The court heard a presentation from Purple Wave Auctions, offering to list county assets for sale in their online auction house. The company does not use minimums in their auctions, which they acknowledged worried some sellers thinking they may not get enough for their items, but causing perspective buyers to much more aggressive, leading to higher bids. The commissioners asked how the company might help the county and about the fees and other questions and thanked the company for the presentation.
City of Crockett Administrator John Angerstein presented a proposal to the court whereby the city of Crockett and the county would work together to provide longterm tax abatements to attract business investment in the area. Angerstein told the court he studied the projects the city was eligible for and lost, saying many of these were due to a lack of 10-year abatements to candidate businesses. The proposal laid out the definitions and working relationship between city and county, with a point system based on the amount invested and jobs created to create incentives to attract new businesses. Angerstein agreed a tax abatement could be extended beyond the 10 year period if a business were to increase investment or growth in jobs. The court approved this agreement unanimously.
In other business the court:
- Voted to hire a part-time driver for the Senior Citizens Center
- Voted to hire a full-time legal assistant for the county attorney
- Made several provisions for the upcoming Nov. 7 elections
- Voted to approve expenditures to complete the renovation and relocation of the district clerk’s offices to the first floor of the county courthouse
- Approved repairs to the padding in the de-escalation room at the justice center
Greg Ritchie can be reached at [email protected]
