By JIM HARDIN
CNHI
Rockwall County —
Rockwall County commissioners’ plans to vote on several budget items this week were changed due to what County Judge Chris Florence termed a “publishing error.”
After the brief explanation, Florance announced a new date — Sept. 14 — for commissioners to consider setting compensation for elected officials, adopting the current draft budget for fiscal year 2010-11 and setting the tax rate.
The “publishing error” involved a legal notice that is required to be published before commissioners vote on the budget.
Even though action was delayed, commissioners did hear from one resident who came to make remarks about the budget during a scheduled public hearing.
Robert Hill’s comments focused on what he called “discretionary spending” in the proposed budget. He said commissioners should consider delaying discretionary spending.
“Adding to my tax burden during a time of recession, a time where houses are being foreclosed and where there are no jobs is not the right thing to do,” he told commissioners.
He suggested that commissioners sit down with the budget, find areas where discretionary spending could be delayed and cut budgets.
“I would suggest to you that publishing a newspaper article that says we’re going to back-door this and figure out what the tax rate needs to be in order to get the same amount of money is not the right way to do it,” he said.
“As times change and economic conditions change, you need to change with it,” Hill added later. “You need to cut budgets and you need to consider that that’s what your constituents want you to do.”
Early this month, commissioners set a proposed tax rate — the effective tax rate of 38.64 cents per $100 assessed value — for the county’s 2010-11 fiscal year. The county’s current tax rate is 37.50 cents per $100 valuation.
The effective tax rate is a calculated rate that would provide the county with the same amount of revenue it received in the year before on properties taxed in both years.
The proposed budget lists about $27.2 million in expected expenses and approximately $24.4 million in projected revenue.
