Newton County commissioners vote to disprove central appraisal district's adopted 2026 budget

The Newton County Commissioners Court voted to disapprove (file a resolution disproving) the Newton County Central Appraisal District’s adopted 2026 budget at the court’s Aug. 19 meeting, citing concerns about personnel costs and retirement contributions.

The transcript records commissioners reciting the appraisal district’s adopted budget figures and each taxing unit’s share: the court referenced a total in the transcript of about $1.535 million (the transcript includes multiple numeric forms; court members repeatedly discussed the total and the county's portion). The court listed Newton County’s share as $679,705 and discussed the portion allocated to Newton Independent School District and other local taxing jurisdictions. Commissioners said the appraisal district’s salary and retirement costs (discussed in the meeting as a significant share of the budget) merited sending the budget back for revision; a motion to disprove the adopted budget was made, seconded and approved.

A commissioner asked how disproving the budget would affect operations; staff said the appraisal district must return and redo its budget for 2026 if a majority of voting taxing units disprove the adopted budget. Commissioners also asked for more detailed pay-rate information; the court recorded numbers for salaries, retirement and insurance as part of the discussion but did not produce a uniform hourly-rate table at the meeting.