Commissioners Court will meet to discuss county property tax rate for next fiscal year

NEW BOSTON, Texas—Bowie County Commissioners Court will meet at 9 a.m. today to approve a county property tax rate for next fiscal year.

After holding a public hearing earlier this month, commissioners agreed to keep the county’s tax rate at the current rate for next fiscal year. That rate will be just slightly more than 42 cents per $100 valuation on real property.

Bowie County Judge James Carlow previously said that continuing with the same rate will allow the the county to afford a 3 percent county employee pay raise without having to increase the rate, while at the same time help the county meet its operations and maintenance obligations as provided for in the upcoming fiscal year 2018-2019 budget.

Last month, county officials proposed a $34.9 million budget for next fiscal year, which will start Oct. 1 and go through Sept. 30, 2019.

Besides approving the tax rate, commissioners also consider approving the 76-page proposed budget.

Carlow said that besides the salary increases, the proposed budget will also include continued payments for new roofing recently placed on the county’s 33-year-old courthouse and on the county’s downtown Texarkana office on Main Street.

Some of the county’s major operations and maintenance expenditures provided in the budget include slightly more than $11 million to operate the Bowie County Correctional Center, $3.4 million for the sheriff’s office, more than $2.2 million set aside for miscellaneous funds, nearly $1.8 million for operating Bowie County’s portion of the Bi-State Justice Center building and jail, nearly $1.7 million for the district attorney’s office, $1.3 million for commissioner Precinct 4 and $1.1 million for commissioner Precinct 3.

Other items include: $756,274 for the district clerk’s office, $749,163 for the public defenders office, $707,864 for the juvenile probation office, $578,460 for commissioner Precinct 1, $565,916 for commissioner Precinct 2, $537, 544 for the tax assessor-collector’s office, $393,343 for the auditor’s office, $348,698 for the Bowie County Court-at-Law, $338,35 for the county clerk’s office, $260,952 for the elections administration office, $163,279 for the treasurer’s office, $145,874 for the Bowie County Emergency Management office, $99,653 for the Fines and Collections office, $75,344 for the veterans service office and $72,649 for the purchasing office.