Callahan County auditor proposes budget with lower tax rate, 6% cost-of-living increase and supplemental pay changes

Callahan County Auditor Sandra, presenting the county's proposed fiscal year budget at a commissioners court workshop on Aug. 18, said the county will pass through a lower tax rate to taxpayers while generating new revenue and building a budget that includes a 6% cost-of-living increase for employees.

Sandra said the general fund rate in the proposed budget is 36¢ and the combined rate is 52.9005¢, and that growth in the tax base will produce more than $500,000 in new tax revenue for the general fund and over $200,000 for the road-and-bridge fund.

The budget matters because it sets the county's spending priorities, funds employee pay, and identifies how the county will handle several large, unfinished capital projects. Auditor Sandra told the court the package balances revenues and expenditures while leaving space for upcoming decisions from the district judge and for legislative changes that affected elected-official supplements.

Key points presented - Tax rate and revenue: Sandra told the court the proposed combined tax rate is 52.9005¢ and that new revenue from growth yields “over a half million dollars of new tax revenue to the general fund and over $200,000 to the…