BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — Earlier Tuesday, the Brazos county Commissioner's Court was unable to vote on a tax rate for the fiscal year. This is the second week in a row they have been unable to do so, and time is running out for the court to make a decision.
“Disappointed and frustrated because we need to do county business. It's not just the tax rate," Precinct 3 Commissioner Nancy Berry said. "We had five employees today that were in training, new employees that we have to send home today because we can't keep them.”
Because Precinct 1 Commissioner Steve Aldrich and Precinct 2 Commissioner Russ Ford opted out of attending, the court was one member short of legally being able to take action on tax.
“I first became aware of the at 81.006 in the code when there were two commissioners in Harris County, who did the same thing,” Aldrich said.
Aldrich is in favor of a tax rate of $0.4435 or $0.4535 per $100 valuation because either would be neutral to the average homeowner or neutral to the budget, while Ford believes the commissioners should use some of the remaining funds to pay for the budget.
“Today, I've gotten more than 250 either text messages, phone calls, emails, or people that have personally sought me out to tell me to keep up the fight. Don't Give Up,” Ford said.
Now it's a race against the clock because the commissioners must have a tax rate approved by September 29th, or a 'no new revenue rate' will be put in place.
“We need to pass a tax rate that'll fund our operations. As it is we're going into fund balance to the tune of $25 million to fund salary increases for our employees, which they desperately need because many of them make under $40,000 a year and are working two or three jobs,” Berry said.
Ford said he expects the statues quote for at least another week before the two sides might be able to reconvene.