Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the County Finance topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Harrison County commissioners approve routine payments and hear December financial report; fund balance steady
Summary
The court approved regular bills, payroll and budget amendments on March 12 and heard the auditor report that the county's unadjusted December 2025 general fund balance stood at $23,765,728, with modest year-over-year collection declines tied largely to timing and health-claim costs.
Harrison County Commissioners on March 12 approved routine payments and budget amendments and received an unadjusted auditor’s report showing a December 2025 general fund balance of $23,765,728. The court voted unanimously on motions for payment of regular bills, payroll and several budget amendments.
Auditor Becky Haynes presented the December 2025 financials, telling the court that general fund collections were $3,944,520 compared with $4,159,714 in the prior year, a decline of about $215,194. Haynes said that much of the change reflected timing in property tax collections and that expense variances were driven in part by higher employee health claims and the timing of workers’ compensation payments. ‘‘You’ll see the majority of it is in the property tax collection that is just timing,’’ Haynes said.
Haynes noted a positive variance in public safety related to a Motorola payment that was made in FY25 but not in FY26, and said stop‑loss reimbursements had helped offset health-claim costs in recent months. Commissioners asked about the timeliness of stop‑loss payments; Haynes said there can be short delays of a few weeks to a few months.
The court approved a listed request to pay regular bills and the February 27 payroll (both motions passed by voice vote). The treasurer later presented January investment results: the Texas CLASS account had a beginning balance of about $6.22 million and an ending balance near $6.24 million; the county’s money‑market and managed accounts earned mid‑single‑digit interest rates, producing roughly $76,976 in interest for January and a year‑to‑date total of about $321,637. The court authorized publishing the treasurer’s monthly report under Local Government Code §114.026.
Votes at a glance: the court voted unanimously (5–0) to approve payment of regular bills, the February 27 payroll, and to accept and publish the treasurer’s January reports. Several zero‑dollar and special budget amendments were also approved, including allocations of insurance proceeds and a Texas State University grant reimbursement for sheriff tobacco‑enforcement activity.
