Brazos County leaders continue series of FY-24 budget and tax rate discussions

BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) -Brazos County leaders continue a series of FY-24 budget and tax rate discussions.

A workshop was held Thursday afternoon, where county leaders were updated on the county finances going into the new fiscal year.

Budget officials say inflation continues to have an impact on the county budget, as well as labor shortages. This year, county leaders say they’re comprehensively reviewing projects before signing contracts, which reduces how funds are spent. Also, with several pending infrastructure and capital projects, the county has to account for a recently approved 4.5% cost-of-living salary increase.

With inflation on the rise, residents are hoping for some relief.

“Our budget officer has done a great job putting this together. They’ve talked to all the departments, so they have a good idea of what the requests are and put them in,” said Brazos County Judge Duane Peters.

Brazos County Commissioner Steve Aldrich recently spoke out on the tax rate and is hoping the county reverts back to a no-new-revenue rate, similar to last year.

Last October, the Brazos County Commissioners were unable to establish a new tax rate before the deadline, resulting in the adoption of a “no-new-revenue” rate of $0.42.

Initially, a proposition to increase the rate to $0.48 was put forth. However, Commissioners Russ Ford and Steve Aldrich, at that time, avoided attending meetings starting in early September to prevent its passage. The county made efforts to negotiate by lowering the proposed rate to $0.46, but this concession failed to bring the two commissioners to the negotiating table. State law mandates the participation of at least four out of five commissioners in meetings aimed at determining the tax rate.

Budget and tax rate discussions will continue next week.

“We will continue workshops on Monday, where we will begin to go over capital, and we have another workshop scheduled, although we don’t have it published yet, for Tuesday, where we will continue to go over questions,” said Brazos County Auditor Katie Conner.

There will be another workshop Wednesday if needed.