Harrison County adopts FY 2024–25 budget and sets tax rate at $0.3556 per $100

Harrison County Commissioners Court adopted the county’s FY 2024–25 budget on Sept. 10 and set the ad valorem tax rate at $0.3556 per $100 of assessed value, the court announced after a series of public hearings held at the historic courthouse in Marshall.

County Judge Chad Sims opened the public hearing on the proposed tax increase and said the budget will raise about $2,000,000 more than last year—“just over a 7% increase,” he said—while new properties added to the tax roll are expected to bring in about $39,000. No members of the public responded during the hearings.

The court moved to adopt the budget and to set the tax rate; the record vote was taken and each commissioner and the judge registered an affirmative vote. The court also ratified a property tax collection increase of $2,321,354 for FY 2024–25.

The proceedings included separate, required public hearings and approvals for related items: salary, expenses and allowances for elected county officials; the county clerk’s record‑archive fee plan (set at $9.45); the district clerk’s records technology plan; juror and grand jury compensation; and other court‑ordered salary appointments. All related motions passed unanimously.

Judge Sims thanked staff who prepared budget materials and tax calculations, singling out County Auditor Becky Haynes and staff member Veronica King for work on the tax‑rate computations. The court noted it will hold additional regularly scheduled meetings in August and September next year to comply with new state budget requirements; if no business requires a meeting, the judge said the court will cancel the calendar entry.

Next steps: the adopted budget and rates will be executed administratively; the court did not postpone or table any of the adoption items and no appeals or remands were recorded during the meeting.