Taylor County adopts tentative 2025-26 budget and keeps millage rates; commissioners debate sheriff cuts and cemetery maintenance

Taylor County’s Board of Commissioners on the first of two public hearings adopted tentative millage rates for fiscal year 2025–26 and approved a tentative county budget after a lengthy discussion about reductions in the sheriff’s office budget and the potential loss of inmate labor used for mowing and cemetery upkeep.

The board voted to keep the general fund millage at 7.2426 mills and the municipal services taxing unit (MSTU) millage at 1.225 mills, preserving an aggregate millage of 8.4676. The finance director told commissioners that, based on preliminary certified taxable values, keeping the millage the same will generate about $14,265,001.86 in ad valorem revenue for 2025, a decrease of roughly $1,958,000 from the prior year.

The proposed total budget for fiscal year 2026 is $101,315,002.18, the finance director said, and the county’s advertised grant funding in the budget totals $33,875,074. The board scheduled a second and final public hearing on the tentative millage and…