County budget will give raises to employees, lower tax rate
Milam County Commissioners unanimously approved and adopted a proposed budget and tax rate on Monday for the county. The new budget will give pay raises to county employees and put some money away in county reserves.
The new budget shows a 13.7 percent increase in revenues to be collected. The budget will be $24,253,420.
The court also set the tax rate at 68.41 cents per $100 valuation. That is a decrease from the 73-cent rate the county currently taxes at.
That new tax rate is lower, but will still raise more money for the county because of the rise in property values and new taxes that have been added to the rolls.
The new budget will give all elected officials a $7,500 pay raise along with a 6 percent pay raise for all other county employees. The County Clerk will get a $10,000 raise due to taking on duties as the Annex Administrator.
The total cost for the elected officials increase will be about $143,000. The total cost of county employee raises will be $355,000.
The increase in the budget will give commissioner’s precincts 35 percent in additional funds to use for their road and bridge accounts for a total of $661,739 to the precincts.
The new budget will also allow the Sheriff’s Office to hire two new deputies and a narcotics officer, give the District Attorney’s Office one new lawyer and a staff person, and give Bea’s Kitchen two positions.
The new budget will bring the county’s reserves up to $1,189,000. It also includes: $70,000 in funding to consolidate Old Town Cameron and the Rockdale Historical Society; $50,000 to Milam Touch of Love for stray animal boarding; a $50,000 increase to Juvenile Probation for housing; and a $22,500 increase to the county’s fire departments.
Commissioners will have a public hearing on the tax rate on Sept. 12 at 9:30 a.m. in the courthouse to officially adopting that rate.
The court also recognized Sidney Youngblood and Dana McClaren for their service to the Post Oak Savannah Groundwater District Board during the meeting along with appointing their replacements. The court appointed Keith Copeland to fill the industrial position vacated by Youngblood and Kit Worley to fill the position vacated by McClaren.
During the meeting a public hearing regarding solar project tax abatements was also held. The county heard for six residents during the public comments portion of the hearing. Commissioners then votes 3-1 to approve the tax abatements with Commissioner Henry Hubnik opposed on all three.
Tax abatements for Sandow Lakes II LLC, Yaupon Solar LLC, and Sypert Branch Solar LLC were approved.
In other business commissioners also: unanimously approved salary raises and expenses as presented for all Milam County elected officials; recognized the Milam County Historical Commission for receiving the Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Historical Commission; appointed Paula Sisco to the Milam County Historical Commission; approved a contract extension for IT services with McLane Intel over five years.