Published: August 15, 2008 09:48 am         

Public hearing set for new tax rate

By Leslie Gibson

Herald-Banner Staff



County Commissioners are considering how to reconcile an approximately $3 million difference between expected revenue and projected expenses for fiscal year 2009.

Of note, that is just about how much less in ad valorem taxes the county expects to receive for the 2009 fiscal year, as compared to the ad valorem tax revenue sustaining this year’s 2008 budget.

With a Sept. 9 deadline for adopting the budget and setting the tax rate, workshops continue.

Conversation in the Monday budget workshop on how to lessen the difference centered on cuts, how to fund requested capital purchases, and whether or not to decrease contingency.

Increasing the tax rate from the .35 on which the draft budget is based was not discussed. Rockwall County’s tax rate has been .35 since 1999.

“Property values have been going up and we’ve been able to live within that growth, plus accommodate inflation and growth,” commissioner Bruce Beaty said in a recent interview.

The public will get a chance to speak Monday in a public hearing on the fiscal year 2009 tax rate being considered for Rockwall County. The hearing begins at 7 p.m. in the Historical Courthouse, third floor.

Draft budget number one, released July 31, and available for inspection in the county clerk’s office, is based on a .3500 tax rate. The maximum rate which commissioners can consider for adoption is .3959. Another public hearing is set for Aug. 25 at 9 a.m.

In the meantime, the court took up in Monday workshop an issue which must be addressed before the next fiscal year begins on Oct. 1: The purchase of the Whitmore building.

Its purchase was authorized by commissioners earlier this fiscal year, and plans are underway for its renovation for interim and possibly build-out office and storage space.

Tax notes could fund the $1.2 million. The thought behind using tax notes is that interest rates may be low enough to make the debt more attractive than using cash from the six months operating reserve. Getting a tax note sale done in time is also consideration.

“The runway for that is very short,” auditor John Blackwood said in an interview after the meeting.

If tax notes are not used, the six months reserve fund, which has been built up over the tenure of Judge Bill Bell, and been maintained by the current court, could be tapped.

“I personally think we are being very conservative,” treasurer Bill Sinclair noted.

“Six months is probably a little bit burdensome; four months is probably better for the tax payer,” commissioner David Magness said.

As far as capital purchases being requested in the 2009 fiscal year budget, auditor John Blackwood proposed an idea, which was discussed.

Instead of issuing new debt, where possible, money unspent from previously issued tax notes for specific capital items, could be spent on like capital items.

Tax law and the sales of the tax notes stipulate to investors to what use the county will put the proceeds, and no other use is allowed.

Cuts to new personnel were discussed. Commissioners decided not to consider any changes to the reclassification requests already in the draft budget.

The draft budget number one is built on projected revenue of just more than $24 million. Expenses in the draft budget are just more than $27 million. Future drafts may see that expense number decrease.

Ad valorem taxes should bring in $15.1 million of the total revenue for the fiscal year 2009. The 2008 budget projected the ad valorem tax revenue of $18.3 million. That is a 17 percent decrease.