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Dallas County adopts amended civil-process fee schedule after contentious debate

5919657 · October 1, 2025
AI-Generated Content: All content on this page was generated by AI to highlight key points from the meeting. For complete details and context, we recommend watching the full video. so we can fix them.

Summary

Dallas County Commissioners Court voted 4–1 on Sept. 30 to adopt an amended civil-process fee schedule prepared by the county auditor, raising several fees used for evictions and writs while asking staff to document the methodology used to calculate costs.

The Dallas County Commissioners Court voted 4–1 on Sept. 30 to adopt an amended civil-process fee schedule prepared by the county auditor, approving a set of rates the auditor recommended in the order’s comments column.

The vote came after hours of questions from several commissioners about the data and methodology behind the proposed increases and a request that staff provide a clear explanation of how the unit costs were calculated. The court adopted auditor-recommended rates such as a $250 fee for distress warrants (the auditor’s average-cost analysis showed $401.76) and a $300 fee for orders of sale; a range of writs and related civil-process fees were set mostly in the $300–$400 range. The motion passed 4–1.

The changes were presented as necessary because the county “is not close to recouping breakeven,” Tim Hicks, the county auditor, told the court, saying the office…

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