County Judge said Thursday that Wichita County’s proposed 2026 budget totals $84,700,000 across all funds and carries a proposed tax rate of 0.521303 per $100 of valuation, a reduction from last year’s 0.523894 but one that will nonetheless raise typical bills because property values increased.

"This is, ultimately the taxpayer's budget," County Judge said at a Sept. 4 public hearing on the proposal, which drew no members of the public in the hearing room. "Even though the rate's going down, the average person's values are gonna go up."

The judge told commissioners the plan reduces overall spending 1.6% from last year while increasing the general fund — the main discretionary account — to $66,900,000, up 5.4% from 2025. He emphasized that nearly half of general‑fund spending, 45%, would go to public safety — including the sheriff’s office, the jail, juvenile and adult probation/detention and constables — and that, when debt service is added, more than half of tax revenue would be devoted to those purposes.

The hearing highlighted several other major cost drivers and line items:
- Health insurance premiums for county employees are budgeted at $5,100,000. The judge noted that including jail medical contracts would increase the share of general‑fund dollars devoted to insurance costs.
- Wichita County road and bridge crews maintain 390.61 total road miles; the budget continues a mileage‑based allocation and also uses a special road and bridge tax set aside exclusively for those programs.
- Information‑technology spending — for software licenses, cybersecurity and hardware — is projected at $1,340,000, a roughly 50% increase from three years ago, the judge said.
- Permanent improvement projects are budgeted at $3,400,000 for 2026; the judge said most of those costs will no longer be funded from ARPA after next year.

On the item most homeowners will notice, the judge gave the practical effect of the proposed changes: "$13" — meaning an increase of $13 per $100,000 of home value compared with the no‑new‑revenue rate. He calculated that with a median taxable value a little over $187,000, the average homeowner would pay about $24 more a year under the proposal.

Commissioners and staff discussed insurance and input‑cost inflation more broadly, noting property insurance in the budget was projected to increase from $425,000 last year to about $485,000 and that other operating costs such as equipment and fuel have climbed. The court also reviewed past capital choices, citing the construction of the county’s law enforcement center for about $72,000,000 and saying voter‑approved bonds remain the county’s primary debt.

A member of the public briefly spoke and said the county had received federal ARPA funds and discussed how the money was used; the judge and commissioners said the county directed ARPA dollars to infrastructure, renovation and public health projects to avoid borrowing and to build value for future tax base growth.

No formal vote was taken at the hearing. The judge said this public hearing is the penultimate step in the budget process and that the court will take up formal adoption of the tax rate and budget at the commissioners court meeting scheduled for Tuesday.

Attendance at the hearing was low; the judge noted there were no citizens in the room and encouraged public participation in the adoption meeting. The court encouraged residents to review the full proposed budget documents for detail on departmental budgets, permanent improvements and planned road work.