Ellis County commissioners propose same property tax rate for FY2026; motion passes unanimously

Ellis County Commissioners Court voted unanimously to propose a property tax rate of 0.273992 for tax year 2025, the rate that would fund fiscal year 2026, the court said at a special meeting.

County staff presented a breakdown of the proposed rate and revenue estimates, and the court voted to propose the rate so staff could meet statutory notice requirements. The motion to propose the rates was made by Commissioner Grayson, seconded by Commissioner Ponder, and passed on a unanimous voice vote.

Ryan (county staff) told the court the proposed “all-in” rate would remain at 0.273992, the same as the prior year. He provided component rates: the maintenance and operations (M&O) rate at 0.246737, the interest and sinking (I&S) rate at 0.009041, and a flood mitigation (FM) or similar component at 0.018214, as presented during the meeting. Ryan also reported a total proposed revenue figure of $90,239,349 and described the proposed allocation of that revenue: about $68,600,000 (roughly 76%) to the general fund, approximately $1,245,000 each to road and bridges (about 1.38% each), and about $16,600,000 (about 18.43%) to permanent improvements, as shown in the proposed budget documents.

Court members asked about deadlines and posting: staff said the county would post the proposed numbers and the Comptroller tax-code notice form (notice under Tax Code Section 26.06 as cited at the meeting) on the county website and in the budget materials by Sept. 1, and that the formal budget and tax-rate notices would be published with enough time to meet a proposed Sept. 16 hearing date. Staff advised that voting to propose the rate was the safest route given ambiguities between statute and the Comptroller’s notice form.

After the vote, the presiding officer instructed staff to post the proposed rate and budget materials online and to follow statutory notice procedures. The court closed the special meeting after completing the agenda.