Kerr County leaders debate proposed tax rates during budget workshop

Kerr County leaders debated proposed tax rates during Wednesday’s budget workshop.

Despite the currently proposed budget requiring $11.2 million to be pulled from fund reserves, Kerr County Commissioner Rich Paces suggested the property tax rate could be even lower.  “This is not the time to raise taxes on people who are already stressed,” Paces said.

Paces added, “$1.2 or $1.3 million is not going to break the account.  I think it just sends all the right messages to the people who have already been hurt so badly that we aren’t trying to screw them on top.”

The budget proposal uses the same tax rate as last year, of 42.33 cents per $100 of property value, roughly two cents higher than a tax rate that would generate no new revenue for the county.

Kerr County Judge Rob Kelly said using the no-new revenue rate would represent an additional loss of $1.3 million, citing an estimate that each cent in the property tax rate generates $650,000 from Tax-Assessor-Collector Bob Reeves.  Kelly said, although he’s kept last year’s property tax rate in his latest budget proposal, he remains worried the county might become insolvent, or unable to pay its debts.

The current proposed tax rate remains significantly below the “disaster” rate commissioners could choose to raise taxes to without voter approval.  The latest proposal also increases the budget for the Kerr County Appraisal District, approves the hiring of an information technologies intern, and includes a $130,000 contingency for sheriff’s office vehicles.