Montgomery County commissioners OK spending plan — on second try

Salary adjustment attempt delays vote; tax rate cut by penny

Montgomery County commissioners on Tuesday set the fiscal year 2016-17 budget and tax rate — not once, but twice — during a public hearing that resulted in a 1-cent reduction in the property tax rate.

Commissioners also unanimously approved a $348 million operating budget — a 4.8 percent increase over last year’s $332 million budget.

The property tax rate of 46.67 cents per $100 assessed valuation — down from 47.67 cents — will save the owner of an average-valued home ($268,685) just under $27 annually.

Approving the 1-cent reduction and the overall budget changes proved a bit challenging Tuesday morning — forcing commissioners to rescind their initial tax rate vote and recess until 4 p.m., when the tax rate and budget received a final blessing from the panel.

The issue arose when commissioners voted to reduce the budgeted cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) for county employees from 3 percent to 1 percent in order to make up the difference in funding due to the tax rate cut.

However, County Auditor Phyllis Martin informed commissioners that the COLA for elected officials, including themselves, could not be changed in time for the budget deadline because their salaries already had been publicly posted and the time to file grievances on salary changes had passed.

County Judge Craig Doyal was adamant that the court would not reduce county employees’ salaries without reducing their own.

As a result, commissioners had to rescind their initial vote on the property tax rate and recess to give Martin and her staff time for budget adjustments in order to meet the reduced funds from the tax rate reduction. The rate decrease dropped the county’s capital improvement fund from $13 million to $8 million.

Doyal on Aug. 23 originally proposed a quarter-cent drop in the tax rate. Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack upped the ante late last week to the 1-cent drop.

“It’s our homeowners who are taking it on the chin,” Noack said in court Tuesday. He called the rate decrease “meaningful, measurable and responsible.”

Noack credited Doyal with coming up with the idea for the rate drop.

Doyal said the decrease still allows the county to “responsibly” set aside funds for capital improvement.

“It’s our homeowners who are taking it on the chin.”

Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack