Erath County commissioners on Aug. 11 approved a proposed interlocal agreement that will let the county charge taxing entities a pro-rated share of the cost to assess and collect property taxes.

County staff told the court the county has been charging a flat 80 cents per parcel for decades. That rate no longer covers the county’s costs for personnel, postage and software, staff said; the proposed agreement would allocate the county’s actual costs across taxing entities by the percentage of tax revenue the county collects for each entity.

Kent (county staff) presented an analysis showing how different approaches would affect revenue and budget planning. Judge Huckaby told the court city administrators and school superintendents had been consulted; the new agreement would take effect Oct. 1 and the county intended to negotiate payment timing (monthly, quarterly or annual) with each entity to accommodate different cash flows.

Commissioner Stevens moved to approve the proposed interlocal agreements and to authorize the judge to negotiate payment timing terms; the court approved the action.

Ending: County staff said the change is intended to be a fair and transparent way to recover collection costs and to reduce the county’s subsidization of outside taxing entities.