Gonzales County adopts FY25 budget, sets tax rate at 0.2032 and delays purchase of voter app pending more information

Gonzales County Commissioners Court on a voice vote adopted the county—s fiscal year 2024–25 budget and set the 2024 tax rate at 0.2032.

The court approved the budget with amendments offered during the meeting and ratified a property-tax revenue increase of $123,090 from last year, a 0.87% increase; the amount of revenue from new property added this year was read as $129,654. Speaker 1 moved to adopt the budget with the changes; the motion was seconded and carried.

County staff presented two formal changes to the judge—s proposed budget: adjustments to the district court budget and a request from the elections administrator for an app-based voter-information/notification system to be funded from available HAVA (Help America Vote Act) funds. "The changes that are before you are what I emailed last week. It's just the changes for the district court's budget and a request from the elections administrator using public funds, for an app based information system," Speaker 5 said when describing the packet materials.

Commissioners raised concerns about whether the proposed app would duplicate the county's existing HyperReach notification system and about required user sign-up. Speaker 6 said it "seems like there's a duplication" and questioned spending for a capability the county already partially has. Commissioners discussed reported cost estimates for the new system and recurring maintenance fees and asked that the elections administrator appear in person to explain technical details and data access. Speaker 7 relayed the administrator's claim that the app could pull voter information from DPS but cautioned she was repeating what she had been told and had not verified it herself.

The court voted to hold the HAVA-funded app line until the elections administrator can appear and provide further information; staff noted HAVA funds under discussion are special leftover federal funds that "can be expensed on anything that helps our citizens vote," according to Speaker 5. The court adopted the remainder of the FY25 budget as presented.

The tax-rate adoption and budget ratification were both passed by voice vote; officials recorded the 0.2032 tax rate and the accompanying budget actions. The court also approved the formal statement required to ratify that the upcoming year's budget will raise more property-tax revenue than last year by the stated dollar amount.

The court expected to reconvene routine business items in subsequent meetings and requested the elections administrator attend to answer technical questions about the proposed app and its data sources.