In Hunt County, it looks like next year’s property tax bills might end up being roughly equivalent to last year’s. As an apparent result of public outcry, Hunt County commissioners seem to have backed off of a proposal to raise property taxes. The Greenville Herald Banner reports Hunt County Judge Bobby Stovall said Tuesday the Hunt County Commissioners Court will be voting next Monday to adopt a property tax rate equal to what’s called the no-new-revenue rate. Because property values have risen, a no-new-revenue rate would necessarily be a little lower than the old rate. The Banner reports Precinct 3 Commissioner Phillip Martin said the no-new-revenue property tax rate for Hunt County would be about 32.3 cents per $100 of valuation. That would be down about 1.3 cents from the current rate.
A packed house at a public hearing Tuesday at the Hunt County Commissioners Court expressed strong opposition to any increase in the property tax rate. The county is obligated by state law to come up with a tax rate and budget by Sept. 30. Stovall said Tuesday that if the county can’t come up with a new rate by the deadline, it’s obligated to adopt either the existing rate or the no-new-revenue rate, whichever is lower. The Banner reports Stovall also said those defaults also apply to taxing entities that don’t provide sufficient advance notice of an increase. The county posted a notice of a proposed rate increase in the Aug. 31 Herald Banner, but many locals didn’t know about the increase until Precinct 1 Commissioner Mark Hutchins posted about it on Facebook on Sept. 7.
Monday’s regular meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m., however, Stovall said it might be moved from the Commissioners Court in order to accommodate more people. Stovall told the Banner the county would decide on the meeting location before the end of this week.
