During the Regular Session of the 89th Texas Legislature, Hardin County Commissioner Chris Kirkendall reached out to his state representative to discuss the need for rural ambulance funding. When Rep. Janis Holt, a freshman member of the Texas House, told Kirkendall she was not familiar with the details, Kirkendall offered to send her a Resolution Spotlight, a ready-made document laying out the county perspective.
“She told me that would be helpful,” Kirkendall shared. He then emailed the Rural Ambulance Funding Resolution Spotlight published in the April issue of County Progress Magazine to his representative.
“Resolution Spotlights are powerful tools for advocacy and education,” said CJCAT Program Director Rick Thompson. “They are designed to distill complex county issues into clear, concise messages that are easy for different audiences to understand.”
The Resolution Spotlights are based on the CJCAT Resolutions, adopted every year at the Annual State Conference. These Resolutions serve as the Association’s legislative platform.
“The Spotlights help officials quickly and effectively communicate the background of a problem, present evidence to support the county’s position, and offer clear, actionable recommendations,” Thompson observed. “In addition, they are perfect for social media because they are designed to be easily digestible.”
In August 2024, the CJCAT and County Progress launched the Resolution Spotlight series, designed to tell the story behind each adopted Resolution. This month’s issue includes the 14th installment of the series, which will continue well into 2026.
County impact statements from the published spotlights to date are included below. You may download the first 15 Resolutions Spotlights in full at https://countyprogress.com/resolution-spotlights/. Upcoming spotlights will cover a wide spectrum of topics including support for the county road grant fund, full funding of DPS labs, opposition to unfunded mandates, and prohibiting county legislative communications.
Support for Statewide Funding for Rural Ambulance Service
“Ambulance services in rural areas have the largest area to cover for the fewest people with the least tax revenue,” stated Clay County Judge Mike Campbell.
Clay County covers 1,117 square miles and has 10,218 residents. The population density per square mile is 9.38. Ambulances are stationed in Henrietta, which is in the center of the county.
Clay County is approximately 50 miles from the north to the south boundary and 27 miles from east to west.
“That means an ambulance call could take 40 minutes to respond to an accident or medical emergency,” Campbell explained. “If we only funded one crew, that ambulance would be out of service, and it would be necessary to request mutual assistance from neighboring counties.”
House Bill 3000 establishing the Rural Ambulance Services Grant Program went into effective Sept. 1, 2025.
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Resolution of Support for County Motor Fuel Tax Exemption
“In rural Cass County, which spans over 950 square miles and maintains almost 1,000 linear miles of county roads, we burn about 100,000 gallons annually,” reported Cass County Judge Travis Ransom. “Our road crews’ combined usage is another 100,000 gallons a year. This equates to $40,000 dollars in motor fuel tax back to the State of Texas.”
Ironically, Cass County receives about $40,000 a year from the Lateral Road Fund. There is a cost in the collection, administration, calculation, and reallocation of these funds, which Ransom describes as “tax churn,” or when one taxing entity (the county) pays taxes to another taxing entity (the state) to serve the same constituents. It is a complicated inefficiency in government, Ransom stated.
House Bill 1109 exempting counties from the state motor fuels tax went into effect on July 1, 2025
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County Elections
(Emphasis: Countywide Polling)
Countywide precincts, or vote centers, allow voters the option of voting at any of the countywide polling places on Election Day instead of their assigned precinct polling location
Lubbock County participated in the original pilot program during the Nov. 7, 2006, general election and has continued participation with overwhelming support from the voters and county officials.
“Countywide voting has been and continues to be an enormous success,” shared Lubbock County Judge Curtis Parrish. In fact, the discontinuation of vote centers, or the return to precinct-only centers, “would be devastating to Lubbock County,” Parrish stated. If Lubbock County had to go back to precinct-based voting, our increased cost would be approximately $600,000.”
Senate Bill 76 which proposed eliminating countywide polling died in Senate State Affairs.
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Sludge Waste and Biosolid Disposal
“No Texas county has authority over the land application of biosolids. That is a state-regulated authority that goes through TCEQ. Counties have asked for that authority. We have asked the legislature for that, and it has fallen on deaf ears…We are charged with public health and public safety, and that is what triggered this investigation.” Johnson County Commissioner Larry Woolley
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Opposition to Granting Powers to Municipal Utility Districts and Special Utility Districts
Geographically speaking, Rockwall County is the smallest county in the State of Texas at 12 miles by 12 miles, or 144 square miles. Rockwall County currently houses 11 MUDs with three more in the works. Overdevelopment of Rockwall County has resulted in neighborhoods without fully supported services and the overcrowding of area schools, explained Rockwall County Judge Frank New.
“Once you are in a MUD, you cannot vote your way out of it,” New emphasized. “The developer sets up a board of directors who are not required to have elections inside of the district, and they can reissue debt for the district. It is non-transparent and immoral.”
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State Funds for Indigent Criminal Defense and Magistration Costs
In 2023, Bandera County spent $147,659.41 on indigent defense and received $25,283.00 in state formula grant funding, not including indirect support from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission for Bandera County through its two-thirds sustainability funding of the Hill Country Regional Public Defender Office (PDO), which provides representation in Bandera County.
“We do not have enough attorneys to go around in rural Texas, and the cost is eating up our ad valorem tax,” Bandera County Judge Richard Evans emphasized. “Without the PDO, we would only have two attorneys to draw from.”
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Mental Health Patients
“Since the last legislative session, Texas made a huge down payment in pushing state resources into the treatment of mental health,” Henderson County Judge Wade McKinney observed. “But due to a decades-long period of inadequate funding, we’re playing catch up.”
The rising demand for mental health services continues to exceed available resources, McKinney underscored.
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Fireworks Regulations
Texas has a very diverse landscape, and the Panhandle’s fire season is basically 365 days a year, said Hutchinson County Judge Cindy Irwin.
Hutchinson County is well aware of the devastation fire can cause. The Smokehouse Creek Fire, which started in Hutchinson County on Feb. 26, 2024, eventually burned more than 1 million acres across the Panhandle making it the largest wildfire in Texas history. The cause of the fire was downed power lines due to a broken utility pole.
It is impossible to control every situation that could result in injury or fire. However, Texas counties have been granted limited authority to regulate fireworks.
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County Homestead Exemption
Johnson County offers a county homestead exemption of 5 percent of a property’s appraised value, confirmed County Judge Christopher Boedeker.
“There are several reasons to prefer the use of a dollar amount over a flat percentage for homestead exemptions,” Boedeker stated. “First, a flat percentage disproportionately favors wealthy landowners.”
Beyond fundamental fairness, this is a problem for two policy reasons, Boedeker explained:
- It makes it more difficult to offer larger homestead exemptions because the budgetary impact of increasing the homestead exemption percentage is skewed by high-value properties.
- Citizens, elected officials, activists, and the State of Texas have pointed at property tax as a key barrier to affordable housing.
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County Land Use Authority
When developers provide the minimum amount of infrastructure, and that infrastructure collapses or disintegrates over the years, first responders and law enforcement are sometimes unable to access residents in those areas, explained Polk County Judge Sydney Murphy. This allows for any number of dangerous circumstances to exist.
“On the outer edges of the property and in secluded areas, we have found crack houses and other forms of illegal activity,” Murphy reported. “Children are in danger. In addition, if an exception has been made and no plat is filed, we may not even be aware that anyone lives there.”
Too often, there are additional structures built where only one house should exist.
“That creates an overload on the water, septic, electrical, and other systems in that area,” Murphy elaborated. “Overloading of the septic systems creates a huge health and safety issue for any neighboring properties, especially those residents who live downhill or downstream from those individuals and are completely unaware of the possible health issues that might be created for them.”
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Optional County Road and Bridge Fee
According to Texas Transportation Code Section 502.401, Subchapter H, Optional Fees, “The Commissioners Court of a county by order may impose an additional fee, not to exceed $10, for registering a vehicle in the county.” The $10 maximum was established in 1991.
According to TxDOT, since 2020 road materials have increased 62 percent.
“Road materials have gone up drastically,” Cherokee County Commissioner Kelly Traylor emphasized, “and this money we are getting is decreasing in value.”
Cherokee County encompasses over 1,000 miles of county roads. The money collected is spread across four precincts.
“We are fighting an uphill battle on our roads because costs are going up but our revenue source is decreasing because of inflation,” Traylor explained. The road budget must cover materials, labor, equipment, repair, maintenance, and replacement costs for roads, bridges, vehicles, culverts, etc.
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County Local Option Revenue Sources
At the county level, property taxes are the primary source of funding for nearly every service counties rely on from law enforcement and public safety to maintaining vital records like birth certificates and marriage licenses, said Atascosa County Judge Weldon Cude.
“In short – property taxes are the backbone of our budget,” Cude summarized.
Counties cannot independently adopt other revenue sources due to constitutional limitations.
“When the legislature requires or expands mandatory services without state funding, the Commissioners Court must either 1) raise property taxes, or 2) reduce other services,” explained CJCAT Senior General Counsel Jim Allison. “If the legislature limits the county ability to increase revenue, the Commissioners Court is forced to reduce other services provided to the citizens.”
For years, County Judges and Commissioners have visited with their senators and representatives about additional revenue sources in an effort to help pay for mandated and discretionary county services without continuing to raise the property tax or reducing services.
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Limitations on Registered Sex Offenders in Counties
Cities in the State of Texas have the authority to adopt ordinances limiting registered sex offenders from nearing established child safety zones; Texas counties do not have this same authority.
Johnson County, a suburban county near the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, has more than 600 registered sex offenders living in the unincorporated area of the county, reported Commissioner Larry Woolley.
“This requires two full-time deputies just to maintain contact and ensure that these residents are in compliance with registrations,” he continued.
In 2016, Woolley was approached by several constituents in his precinct who received a letter stating that a “high-risk sex offender” had established residence with a number of other sex offenders in what could best be described as a “group home.” This home was located less than 400 feet from a school facility in the unincorporated area of the county.
“A public outcry prompted a meeting with our county attorney, sheriff, and state representative,” Woolley said. The meeting led to the development of a resolution asking that counties be granted the same authorities as cities to establish child safety zones.
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Support for Local Decision-Making and Opposition to Revenue Caps
Ector County, located in the heart of the Central Permian Basin, is uniquely affected by revenue caps.
“Our mineral properties can range from 10 percent to 15 percent of the taxable value. This means in a strong oil and gas year, our revenues could steeply increase, even though the rest of the values remain stagnant or even drop,” Fawcett explained.
“How are we expected to serve the citizens when we are limited on how we budget for desperately needed projects? The cost of roads, staff, and infrastructure is ever-increasing, yet our revenues are constantly being throttled back by arbitrary numbers. Every year that we put off roadway improvements because of revenue caps, we increase the cost of the exact same pavement. With failing infrastructure statewide, this is a failing recipe for the State of Texas, and I can’t discourage these efforts nearly enough.”