Thursday, May 2, 2024
The Hood County Commissioners Court and the Granbury School Board of Trustees voted this week to adopt property tax rates for the 2022-2023 fiscal year.
The votes followed weeks of discussions among elected officials about how to ensure adequate revenue while protecting taxpayers as much as possible in the wake of dramatic increases in property valuations.
The Granbury ISD school board adopted the new property tax rate at its regular meeting Monday night. The Commissioners Court decided on the county’s property tax rate at its regular meeting Tuesday morning.
The school board voted unanimously, with trustee Mark Jackson absent, to adopt a tax rate of $0.9996 per $100 valuation.
Of that figure, $0.8546 is for the maintenance and operations budget and $0.145 is for debt service.
The rate is lower than the rate of $1.0496 per $100 valuation that the school district published as the maximum rate to be considered. The board could not go above that figure but could opt for a lower amount.
With recapture, the $0.9996 property tax rate was the lowest that could be adopted.
“It cannot be compressed further,” Superintendent Jeremy Glenn said.
The Commissioners Court opted in a 3-2 vote to set a property tax rate of $0.331129 per $100 valuation.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Kevin Andrews and Precinct 4 Commissioner Dave Eagle voted against that move. Both favored a slightly lower property tax rate of $0.329164.
The adopted rate, which is lower than the current property tax rate of $0.420345 per $100 valuation, will mean a decrease in revenue of $61,424, according to County Auditor Becky Kidd.
The rate desired by Andrews and Eagle would have meant a decrease in revenue of $209,586, causing further slashes to departmental budgets.
The $0.33129 per $100 valuation rate that was adopted with the votes of County Judge Ron Massingill, Precinct 2 Commissioner Ron Cotton, and Precinct 3 Commissioner Jack Wilson was the rate recommended by Kidd.
She said that department heads had been coming to her with concerns about their budgets being slashed.
The Granbury City Council will vote on the city’s property tax rate at its regular meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 6.
The council will consider a property tax rate not to exceed 38 cents per $100 valuation.
