The Legislature has imposed additional requirements on county budgets that raise more property taxes than in the previous year’s budget. HB 3195 applies to a budget adopted on or after Sept. 1, 2007. If your county budget will not be adopted before this date, the county must comply with these new provisions. If your budget is adopted before Sept. 1, 2007, your county will not be required to meet these new requirements until next year. The new requirements include the following:
A proposed budget that will require raising more revenue from property taxes than in the previous year must contain a cover page with the following statement in 18-point or larger type: “This budget will raise more total property taxes than last year’s budget by (insert total dollar amount of increase and percentage increase), and of that amount (insert amount computed by multiplying the proposed tax rate by the value of new property added to the roll) is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year.” This statement must also be included in the published public notice of the budget hearing.
If the county maintains an Internet Web site, the county clerk shall take action to ensure that the proposed budget is posted on the Web site.
Adoption of a budget that will require raising more revenue from property taxes than in the previous year requires a separate vote of the commissioners court to ratify the property tax increase reflected in the budget. A vote on this increase is in addition to and separate from the vote to adopt the budget or a vote to set the tax rate required by Chapter 26, Tax Code, or other law.
For more information, please call me at 1-800-733-0699.
Jim Allison, General Counsel
