County budget officer outlines tax-rate options; proposed increase would raise roughly $9M in levy

Scott Woodland, Hays County budget officer, presented the county's notice of public hearing on the proposed FY27 tax increase and walked commissioners through the technical differences among the proposed rate, the no‑new‑revenue rate and the voter‑approval rate.

Woodland said the proposed tax rate discussed at prior sessions was 0.4125 per $100 taxable value; the no‑new‑revenue rate on the county form was shown as 0.3714¢ per $100 and the voter‑approval threshold was 0.4926¢. He noted the form also reflects a no‑new‑revenue adjustment for indigent-defense and related costs that slightly raises the no‑new‑revenue calculation.

On dollar impacts, Woodland said the itemized tax-rate schedule would generate about $133.5 million for the general fund, about $50.5 million for debt service and roughly $18.5 million for road and bridge — a combined total of about $202.5 million budgeted assuming proposed rates and historical collection assumptions.

Woodland framed the policy choice: property-tax revenue is the most sustainable source for recurring expenses (salaries, specialty-court operations), while one‑time costs could be funded from reserves. Commissioners raised specific service priorities — specialty mental‑health and pretrial programs funded earlier with ARPA — and discussed whether those pilot programs should be continued with recurring property-tax support.

No action was taken; the public-hearing record was opened and closed with no speakers offering testimony for or against the proposed tax change at this session. The court will consider final adoption at its Sept. 15 meeting.