Van Zandt County commissioners on Thursday agreed to reduce road-and-bridge spending to help close a countywide budget shortfall, with commissioners from precincts that reported stronger fund balances offering larger cuts and commissioners with poorer road conditions proposing smaller reductions or keeping their prior-year budgets.

The court's discussion focused on a roughly $500,000 gap between projected revenue and the county's road-and-bridge requests and on a broader $1.2 million amount the court said it needed to shave from the draft budget to reach balance. "We were half a million over," one commissioner said, noting total road-and-bridge budget requests exceeded estimated revenues. The judge told the court the county's overall work had driven the draft countywide shortfall down from about $1.9 million to about $1.2 million.

Why it matters: Road-and-bridge is a single of the largest discretionary budget items and historically received about 25% of taxable general fund receipts; shrinking that allocation will affect maintenance and capital improvements across precincts and could require a future bond election to restore capacity, the judge said.

Most important facts: Commissioners discussed precinct-by-precinct numbers and offered approximate voluntary reductions during the meeting: one precinct offered to reduce by $275,000, another by $125,000, another by roughly $370,000 (final numbers to be verified), and a fourth offered about $200,000 to $265,000. One commissioner said he could maintain last year's budget level but would accept a modest additional reduction of about $125,000. "If we can maintain what you're doing now with your roads, you're doing the best you can with what you got," a commissioner said in support of spreading cuts unevenly to reflect local conditions.

Supporting detail: Commissioners and staff agreed to translate an agreed aggregate cut target (discussed in the meeting as roughly $8.50–$9.00 million in combined precinct reductions) into revised allocations by subtracting those cuts from the 25% share now directed to road and bridge, then apportioning the remaining dollars to individual precincts. The judge said he would compute how the agreed reductions change the percentage of general fund tax revenue going to road and bridge and divide that amount among precincts for the final budget.

Context and constraints: Commissioners cautioned that the county's ability to restore prior-year road funding is limited by a statutory cap on tax revenue growth (described in the meeting as 3.5% under current appraisal and collection rules). The judge said the only practical way to restore substantial road capital funding would be a voter-approved bond specifically for roads, which would raise taxes or extend debt service beyond the general fund allocation.

Next steps: The court directed staff to convert the verbal precinct pledges into exact dollar figures and incorporate them into a revised budget to be reviewed at the next budget meeting. Commissioners emphasized the cuts were for the coming fiscal year and said they would consider restoring funding if revenues improve.

Ending: The court agreed to resume budget work at a scheduled workshop and to post updated figures before the next meeting so precincts and department heads can finalize line-item revisions.