Newton County proposes 2025 tax rate at no-new-revenue level, sets Sept. 23 budget hearing

The Newton County Commissioners Court voted to publish the 2025 proposed property-tax rate at the no-new-revenue level of 0.696645 and scheduled a public hearing on the county’s proposed 2026 budget for Sept. 23, 2025, at 9:00 a.m.

Commissioners were presented with three computed rates: the no-new-revenue rate (0.696645), the no-new-revenue maintenance-and-operations (M&O) rate (0.703124) and the voter-approval rate (0.752692). Staff said publishing a proposed rate is a public-verification step and that the court may adjust the rate again before formally adopting the budget.

Debate centered on whether to publish a higher M&O rate that staff said would raise roughly $80,000–$93,276 over last year. One commissioner said he had not seen the proposed budget and could not support another tax-rate increase after last year’s raise, citing recent salary increases and an unplanned $500,000 expense related to a communications tower. Staff reminded the court that publishing a proposed rate does not lock in a final rate and can be revised before budget adoption.

An unidentified commissioner moved that the court propose the tax rate at the no-new-revenue rate of 0.696645; the motion was seconded by Commissioner Powell and approved by voice vote.

The court also set a public hearing on the 2026 budget for 09/23/2025 at 9:00 a.m. A commissioner requested a workshop before the hearing focused on the Road & Bridge general account so commissioners and the auditor could review actual dollar amounts for equipment and materials rather than percentage-based collections.