Judge presents preliminary budget; proposes 5% pay increase as valuations fall

The county judge delivered a preliminary overview of the FY2027 budget and told commissioners he used current operating expense levels as the starting point. He proposed a 5% payroll increase for employees and said that, in his estimate, a 5% raise equated to about $535,000 in additional salary costs and roughly $826,277 when benefits were included. He also cited health-insurance increases of approximately $1,000 per person, which he estimated to add about $200,000 annually.

The judge said certified property valuations show an adjusted taxable assessed-value decline of roughly $407,407,313 compared with the prior year, and he explained the county must wait for the appraisal district's 'no new revenue' and voter-approved tax-rate calculations before finalizing the levy. He described a number of upcoming budget workshops and a special meeting to publish elected-official salary information. Commissioners discussed prioritizing new position requests (about $1.8 million in new-position requests were reported) and reconciling the timing of new revenues with statutory tax-rate calculations.

The judge emphasized the goal of taking care of employees while balancing the budget constraints created by lower valuations and insurance-cost increases; commissioners scheduled additional workshop time to firm up decisions.