August 17, 2025 • 48 mins
Bell County Commissioner Louie Minor provides an in-depth look at the upcoming Commissioner's Court agenda and discusses the county's proposed budget, tax rates, and ongoing animal shelter controversy.
• Detailed walkthrough of the August 18th Commissioner's Court agenda including consent items, departmental submissions, and workshop items
• Update on the failed motion to fund an outreach coordinator position at the Bell County Animal Shelter despite high euthanasia rates
• Overview of the proposed FY 2025-2026 budget with a decrease in property tax rate to the "no new revenue" rate of $33.27 per $100 valuation
• Explanation of state-imposed unfunded mandates, particularly the 100% disabled veterans property tax exemption
• Insights from Commissioner Minor's visit to Williamson County Regional Animal Shelter and their successful animal welfare programs
• Information about the upcoming PAW (Public Accountability for Animal Welfare) rally on August 20th at 5pm followed by the tax rate public hearing at 6pm
• Discussion of the county's capital improvement projects including jail expansion and mental health unit
Join us at the upcoming public hearings on August 20th and 25th to make your voice heard on these important county issues.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome.
You're listening to the LouieMiner Show.
I'm your host.
Bell County Commissioner, louieMiner, today is August 17th
2025.
We have a lot to cover.
So let's go over the agendareal quick and then we'll get
into what happened last week ifyou've been following the animal
(00:28):
shelter and then what's goingon next week.
So for Monday, the 18th meetingof the Commissioner's Court,
beginning at 9 am, we have theinvocation, pledge of allegiance
and then consent agenda items,the regular minutes for Monday,
(00:50):
august that should be 11, 2000,or August 18, 2025.
And then consider approval ofthe August 4th 2025 and August
11th 2025.
Meeting of the Commissioner'sCourt Personnel, budget
amendments, claims, accounts,payable, payroll, restitution,
(01:12):
jury pay.
Then we have departmentalsubmissions.
Consider authorizing the countyjudge to execute a settlement
(01:37):
participation agreement with theTexas Attorney General's Office
concerning the statewide opioidsettlement agreement with
Purdue Pharma LP and the Sacklerfamily of the FY26 Feral Hog
Program.
Hog Abatement Grant applicationin the amount of $5,525 with a
funding match required of $0 forBell County Health.
Feral Hog Abatement to theTexas A&M AgriLife Extension
(02:00):
Services.
Designated the Bell Countyjudge as the authorized official
agent for the grant.
Then for receiving update fromon the bell core habitat
conservation plan.
Then we have five countyengineer 5a.
Consider and approve the finalplat Levi Acres being a 10.968
(02:27):
acre 3 lot 1 block subdivisionlocated in Precinct 1.
5b.
Consider and approve a finalplat of Little Joseph Ranch
being a 19.997 acre 16 lot 1block subdivision located in
Precinct 3.
16-lot one-block subdivisionlocated in Precinct 3.
5c.
Consider and approve the finalplat of Woodford Salado being a
(02:58):
55.017-acre 12-lot one-blocksubdivision located in Precinct
2.
And then consider and approvethe Stennett Mills Estate Phase
2, mills Estate Phase 2 being a28.19 acre 36 lot 5 block
subdivision located in Precinct2.
Then we have regular agendaitems.
Consider an order giving noticerelating to the November 4,
(03:25):
2025 constitutional amendmentspecial elections pursuant to
section 3.00 of the TexasElection Code.
Consider authorizing the countyjudge to sign Riverside Trail
Design Proposal from KPAEngineers for Professional
Services at a cost of $687,000from precinct funds and
associated budget amendments.
Precinct funds and associatedbudget amendments.
(03:46):
Consider authorizing the countyjudge to sign MRB group
proposal for professionalservices designed for Bell
County Radio Shop Avenue OBelton for $77,600, funded by
CIP.
For $77,600.
(04:07):
Funded by CIP.
And then consider theappointment of Landy Setzer,
michael Welsh, glenn Willis, jayPruitt and Jerry Lancaster To
the Bell County EmergencyService District Two as board
members.
That is everything for ourregular agenda.
(04:31):
Then we have our workshopImmediately following that is
reports and updates from variouscounty offices and departments
Capital improvement projectsupdate on jail expansion and
temporary jail facilities.
Capital Improvement ProjectsUpdate on Jail Expansion and
Temporary Jail Facilities.
The Killeen Annex Discuss FY2025 CIP Plan.
Then we have items CommissionerDepartmental Submissions
(04:59):
Discuss City of Temple ProposedAgreement for Municipal Services
in the City of Temple.
Proposed agreement formunicipal services in the City
of Temple for 4.8607 plus orminus acres of land and the
right-of-way in the city.
Extraterritorial jurisdictionagreement to annex approximately
(05:23):
1.302 plus or minus acres ofland in the city's
extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Then we have review and discussjail efficiency and efficiency
study report by CGL.
Then we have discuss FY 2026CIP projects.
(05:44):
Then we go into closed sessionfor update on courtroom security
and employees emergency safetyresponse initiatives and that is
everything.
And then we have meetings thatthe commissioners may attend.
(06:09):
We have August 25th, bellCounty Extension Education
Association of the TexasAgriLife, texas A&M AgriLife
Extension Luncheon.
Then we have August 27thRetirement Reception for Dirk
Aaron Clearwater Board.
August 27th through 29th 2025,legislative Conference in Austin
.
That is, tac, texas Associationof Counties.
(06:33):
Then, october 14th we have BellCounty Committee for Peoples
with Disability.
And that is everything for theworkshop and the regular agenda.
And that is everything for theworkshop and the regular agenda.
We do have a special meetingand that is on the 20th.
It will be, let's seeinvocation pledge of allegiance
(06:56):
to the flag.
Presentation of the proposed FY2025-26 budget.
Then, item four conduct firstpublic tax rate public hearing
on the proposed FY 2025-2026 taxrate.
(07:22):
For the agendas for this week.
So what I want to do is go backto last week and just catch
everyone up.
If you remember last week'sshow, we talked about the animal
shelter issues at the animalshelter and recommendations to
(07:43):
fix that shelter andrecommendations to fix that.
So we had on the agenda discussfunding an outreach coordinator
for the animal shelter.
So let me play the clip of howthat went from.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Channel 6 that covered the meeting on Monday A
push by animal advocates to funda new position at the Bell
County Animal Shelter failedtoday.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
The motion was denied at a special meeting of the
Bell County Commissioner's Courtthis morning.
6 News reporter Sydney Walkerwas at that meeting and shares
more on what locals and thesheriff had to say After reports
of high euthanasia rates at theBell County Animal Shelter.
Local animal advocates havequestions.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Their answer A proposal for a new position the
Bell County Animal Shelter.
Bell County has growntremendously, but the shelter is
the same as it was in 2011.
Is in hot water.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Public transparency and trust, proper funding this
is what the residents areseeking In data obtained by 6
News, 60 dogs and 126 cats wereeuthanized in June alone.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Are 600 plus more animals going to be euthanized
before the proper funding isapproved With the help of
Precinct?
Speaker 3 (09:02):
4.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Commissioner Louie Miner advocates hoped to create
a new position Funding afull-time outreach coordinator
at $37,000 annually, plusbenefits, will reduce cost,
improve efficiency andstrengthen public trust.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
A role under the commissioner's court, not the
sheriff's department which runsthe shelter help the sheriff
immensely to have somebody whoseonly task is to try to find
viable placement for animals atthe shelter.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
The sheriff shouldn't worry about that.
Sheriff Bill Cook notedstruggles.
I need some help out there.
But efforts to hire anotheranimal control officer also
failed today.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
We have turned the corner.
Give us just a little bit.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
While in support of the position.
I am not pleased with oureuthanasia rate right now.
He believes there should be ananimal shelter.
We have turned the corner.
Give us just a little bit,While in support of the position
.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
I am not pleased with our euthanasia rate right now.
He believes there should be ananimal shelter separate from
animal control.
I can never assure you that itwill be a no-kill facility.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Regardless.
Miner still supported themotion, while the rest of the
court opposed.
Conversations surrounding theanimal shelter are expected to
continue, despite today's failedmotion.
We'll keep you updated as thisstory continues In Belton,
sydney Walker 6 News.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Well, there you have it.
Commissioners voted no onsomething that the citizens
wanted.
This is what they came up withOutreach coordinator to help
start moving in the rightdirection on the animal shelter,
and it was denied.
And the public is starting tosee how their local officials
(10:40):
are.
They want to wait, they want topush them off.
They want to acknowledge theircomplaints, acknowledge their
issues and say we're working onit and not do anything and hope
that they forget.
Hope the public forgets.
The public is not going toforget this.
(11:02):
621 and counting animals havebeen slaughtered under the Bell
County Commissioner watch,allowing the sheriff to do this.
So it's time for us to getinvolved, do something, and I
(11:23):
like that.
The animal rescues areorganizing and doing something
because they don't want animalsdying left and know these are
unhealthy, sick, aggressive dogs.
I'm sure some of them are, butyou got to keep in mind 621.
(12:00):
There's no way that 621 animalsare aggressive and that sick
where they're not even given achance.
So on the 20th, remember we'rehaving a special meeting in the
evening for the budget, thegroup they're calling themselves
(12:26):
PAW Public Accountability forAnimal Welfare.
They are hosting a rally at theBell County Commissioner's
Court Wednesday, august 20th at5 pm and then immediately
following that, they're going toattend the Bell County public
hearing on the tax rate at six.
So hopefully you come out andsupport them, support the
(12:52):
animals, and let's make somechange here in Bell County.
You got to push for change, yougot to fight for change, you
got to advocate for change.
Change is not just going tohappen out of the blue.
You have to get involved andyou're doing it.
You're doing it, paul, you aredoing it.
(13:17):
So I appreciate what you'redoing, because that's the only
way things are going to change,because that's the only way
things are going to change.
So at this last meeting that wehad, the judge gave the
presentation for their proposedbudget and tax rate.
So I'm going to play that inits entirety about your Bell
(13:51):
County budget and tax rate forthe upcoming FY25-26 year.
So let me pull that up for you.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
All right, thank you, gordon.
Next item is item four, whichis presentation of the proposed
FY2026 budget.
It should be coming up on thescreen right now and I don't
have the clicker.
Thank you, all right.
(14:25):
This is our, again,presentation on the proposed
budget.
Preliminary budget for FY26.
There is the Bell Countymission statement.
The government of Bell County,texas, exists to promote and
sustain a sphere of quality oflife for Central Texas.
In partnership with ourcommunities and our citizens, we
pledge to delivercost-effective services in a
personal, responsive, innovativemanner.
I don't think that missionstatement has changed in many,
(14:48):
many, many years.
This is your Commissioner'sCourt, along with our County
Auditor, and all of those peopleare present here today.
Since the Auditor's office putsthis presentation together.
We're going to do financialhighlights first.
Bond rating is an importantfactor whenever we put budgets
(15:10):
together.
Bond ratings are an indicationof the financial health and
strength of any entity.
It's an outside agency or thirdparty that rates the necessary
finances to ensure that we'remanaging those properly and
being good stewards of thosedollars.
County bond rating, by standardand course, is currently a
double, double, a plus, which isa very strong rating.
It's the second highest ratingthat you can get under the s?
(15:32):
P rankings um.
In my opinion it will be thehighest rating that Bell County
can ever receive.
A higher rating would requiresubstantially more assessed
taxable value and just a much,much larger entity than what
Bell County is today.
So I think that's as high as wecan go, given who we are.
(15:54):
Factors that have elevated ourbond rating to AA+ we've got a
diversifying and expandingeconomic base, significant
military presence, of course,with Fort Hood.
We do have strong financialperformance and we generally
have adequate, very adequate,general fund reserves and a very
moderate debt burden, withlimited future capital needs
(16:16):
that have been identified.
Our unassigned fund balance inthis proposed budget is four
months reserve.
Three months is the minimumaccording to our policy, so
we're above that.
We are among the lowest advalorem property tax rates in
the region and in the state.
We are in excellent financialcondition.
The quote there, I think, comesfrom Standard Poor's, one of
(16:39):
their bond rating reports, whichis our financial condition is
strong due to conservativebudgeting practices.
Standard Poor's states we viewthe county's management as very
strong, with strong financialpolicies and practices.
So again, all of that just tosay that our financial position
for the county is very strong.
I always try to put in apopulation and growth chart to
(17:00):
show what our county is doingreally decade to decade, but in
the middle of those decades, usewhatever fiscal year.
We're in For 2025, bestestimate that I see for our
population is about 404,000, soI think we have crossed the
400,000 population barriernumber.
(17:23):
Our growth rates for the pastcouple of decades have surpassed
both the national growth rateas well as the state growth rate
, so we are one of the fastgrowth counties in the state of
Texas, which makes us one of thefast growth counties in the
United States.
This is property values for thepast 10 plus years or so.
(17:50):
I guess 10 or so years.
This is taxable assessed values.
Taxable assessed values arevery, very important because we
derive a significant portion ofour revenue from property tax
revenues, so assessed valuesthat are taxable are key revenue
indicators for us.
The thing I would highlightabout that chart is, again,
(18:12):
continued growth.
That's part of what that showsis taxable values that continue
to grow.
And then it's not a footnote,but in the bottom left-hand
corner of that slide it's gotthe net increases that are due
where those net increases comefrom.
I was asking the auditorearlier today and this weekend
(18:32):
about when was the last time wesaw new value?
Time we saw new value thetaxable assessed value increase,
attributable more to new valuesbeing added than reappraisals.
We both think, I think thatit's been more than a decade, 19
.
So 2019.
So it's been several yearssince that has occurred.
(18:54):
That's good news.
Essentially.
Again, it just furtherdemonstrates the growth that is
occurring in the county and thenew growth that is occurring in
the county.
So 51% of that net increase isattributable to new values being
added to tax rolls that weren'ton the tax rolls last year.
Oh sorry, I don't know how togo back.
(19:14):
Can you go backwards for me onthat?
Yeah, the other thing that Iwas going to highlight on that
slide was not since 2022, Iguess, have we seen a
single-digit increase in thosevalues.
In other words, we've haddouble-digit increases in
(19:38):
assessed values over the pastthree fiscal years.
I guess this year it's asingle-digit, but again, most of
that is tributary value.
So I still think that is a goodsign and a good indicator.
Besides property taxes, salestax receipts are also very
important to us.
Those two property tax revenueand sales tax receipts fund the
(20:00):
majority of our revenue tooperate the county 2025
projected revenue from sales taxis a little over $35 million.
That's an increase of about 4%,a little more than 4% over 2024
.
So again, good indication ofthe economy.
I always have to put a slide inbecause it's significant for us
(20:25):
, it's significant for countiesacross the state, but it's more
significant for some counties, Iwould argue, than others, and
I'll have another slide thatwill follow.
Just to highlight one of thereasons the state imposed
services that the state requiresthe county to do but does not
fund the county to do it, whichmeans your local property taxes
(20:48):
pay for this, and so I alwaystry to have a slide in the deck
that shows some of those areaswhere we have got state imposed
costs to deliver a service or todo something that the state
doesn't pay for.
Top of that list, which I'llcome right back to in a second,
is the 100% disabled spouseproperty tax exemption.
(21:10):
That equates now to about $0.45on your property taxes.
That is paid locally for thatstate-imposed exemption, and I
don't think anyone up here inany year has argued against that
exemption or indicated that thestate shouldn't grant that
exemption.
It's just about who should payfor that exemption and if the
(21:31):
state imposes it, then the stateshould pay for.
That has been our position.
In health care, the staterequires us to provide health
care to those that cannot affordor cannot acquire health care
on their own.
That equates to a little morethan two and a half cents on
your property tax rate.
In terms of what we spend andyou see the whole list there in
(21:53):
terms of this year, our totaltax rate all of those state
mandated requirements costaround $40 million.
That roughly equates to alittle more than 10 cents of
your property tax rate.
That's approaching a third ofyour tax rate is for what the
state requires us to do but doesnot provide funding to do this.
(22:17):
One I want to highlight, becausewe've had multiple discussions,
which was at the top of thatlist that I just showed you, was
the Disabled Veterans,homestead and Survival and
Spouse Tax Exemption.
And again I want to reemphasizeI don't think anyone up here
argues that that exemptionshould not exist.
We won't take that position atall.
But you can see from 2009 and2010, when that exemption was
(22:41):
first authorized, all the way upto today, the growth in the
number of exemptions across thecounty.
We've gone from about 701properties that are eligible for
that exemption to now close to17,000 properties across the
county.
That's significant growth inthat exemption and you can also
(23:03):
see the taxable value that getsexempted.
It's significant.
And then the reimbursement bythe state, which is one of the
things that we are appreciativeof, is the state does offer some
reimbursement for counties thatare in cities that are
disproportionately impacted,because we have a high number of
(23:25):
veterans in this area anddisabled veterans.
That's understandable andobvious.
But so the state years ago didoffer some legislative relief on
that, but they have never fullyfunded that relief.
So they passed a law saying wewill do this but did not fully
fund that and they never havefully funded it.
In this past year I think webudgeted about $2 million for
(23:50):
reimbursement from the state.
What's?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
the number In this current year two and a half.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Two and a half In this upcoming year.
We're anticipating, since thestate just passed new
legislation on this, thatexpanded eligibility.
There are now going to be moreentities applying for that state
reimbursement but the amount ofdollars that are going to be
allocated, or that we believewill be allocated, will actually
not make us whole, not evenclose to whole, and will
(24:19):
actually result in a decrease inthe reimbursement that we
received this past year.
So expanded eligibility but didnot sufficiently expand the
reimbursement funds that comefrom the state.
That's a significant issue forBell County.
It's a significant issue forsome cities in Bell County, and
Killeen being probably the topof that list.
(24:40):
It's just a significant issue.
So I wanted to spend a littlebit of time on that.
We'll continue to work thisissue legislatively with our
state representatives andhopefully at some point in the
future we can see somethingbetter.
But it's a significant issueand again, almost four and a
half cents on our tax rate isassociated with this.
(25:01):
All right, that's somebackground big picture revenue
and a little bit on the statemandates, our proposed budget
revenues and expenditures forthe general fund $165 million to
$98 million.
You'll notice that those twonumbers balance, which is
(25:23):
somewhat unusual.
It's certainly unusual in theworld of federal government,
which has never balanced or Ishouldn't say never hasn't
balanced the budget in decades.
I don't think we must, as localgovernments must balance the
budget.
We cannot operate in deficitsat the local level and this
budget does balance.
(25:43):
Here's a big picture pie chartthat shows revenues for the
general fund.
I won't go through all of those.
You'll see a green trianglepointed up and a red triangle
pointed down.
That just means that that moneyor that line, that dollar
amount there.
If it's a green triangle, thatmeans that those dollars went up
year to year.
If it's a red, that means itwent down a little bit.
(26:04):
And you'll see a mix Some wentup, some went down.
At the end it's 165, 298, 540.
As I mentioned earlier,property taxes and sales tax
represent about 75, 80 percentor so of our budget in terms of
revenue and you see the otherrevenue sources that are
associated with the budget.
This is our history for thegeneral fund.
(26:27):
It just looks at it a littlebit different way visually, but
you can see the bar graph interms of revenues and again,
property tax revenue because ofgrowth and reappraisals and
sales tax revenue because ofgrowth in salesraisals and sales
tax revenue because of growthin sales tax moves those bars
upward Expenditures.
The county is a service-basedorganization and what that means
(26:51):
is our primary expense if we'rea service-based organization is
always going to be in personneland staffing, because that's
the majority of our cost, and soout of our $165 million budget,
over $101 million of that goestowards staff and benefits and
(27:13):
the things that you see listedthere.
Again, 60-40 is about how itshakes out.
If you look at this graph, forexample, on the school district,
that personnel part of thatwould be even bigger because
they have lots and lots ofteachers and so they're very,
very heavy on personnel andstaff and service expenses in
their budget.
So it really is a function ofwhat type of organization you
(27:35):
have in terms of where thosedollars go to.
But for service-basedorganizations, I don't think
I've ever seen one wherestaffing wasn't more than half
of that budget and usually quitea bit more than that.
Our expenditure history generalfund uh, adopted, proposed
again, looking at it just alittle bit differently, but
there you can see what theexpenditures have been in terms
(27:57):
of adopted and proposed, and andagain, $165,298 is what we're
proposing this year in terms ofexpenses In terms of those
expenses.
Here's where the vast majorityof those new expenditures are.
For the FY26 budget, as it hasbeen presented anyway, we're
(28:18):
proposing to add 11 newpositions seven in the judiciary
component of our budget, twopublic safety and then four
other positions.
That's a little over $1.1million for adding those
positions.
Increase in public safetypositions We'll be opening the
expansion of the jail in thisfiscal year.
(28:40):
We budgeted some time ago tobegin that process to fill new
positions that are needed as aresult of that expansion and
this represents the cost forbudgeting those positions at 75
percent.
Beginning in roughly January ortime frame.
Stafford's salary change changesmandated by the state and we're
going to have more discussionabout that today.
(29:02):
But there are some statutorysalary changes that have been
mandated by the state.
Some of those changes are paidfor by the state and some of
those changes are not paid forby the state.
So this back to unfundedmandates.
I didn't highlight it but itwas on that other chart that I
showed you where there is a costassociated with a salary
increase that the state is notpaying for but mandates that the
(29:25):
county pay for County-wide payincrease 2%.
Cola is included within thispreliminary budget Merit pay.
The commissioner's court adopteda year or two ago maybe two
years ago now a merit payapproach for employees so that
department heads are allocatedsome funds so that they can,
(29:47):
through an evaluation system,afford merit increases during
the course of the year based onthat evaluation system, and
there's a cost associated withthat because it's pay, it's
compensation.
We also do reclassificationsthrough our budget process.
Reclassification is notnecessarily related to a person.
It's related to the position,which means a job description or
(30:10):
a job position has changed, andif it's changed, then the
department head comes forward inthe budget process and tells us
this job was doing this, it isnow doing this and it should be
reclassified under our pay planfor another tier.
These represent again $56,000worth of reclassifications for
(30:31):
those positions in the pay plan.
Overtime, part-time-type payactually decreased and then
changes in benefits and ratesalso actually decreased this
year.
So all totaled a little over$4.4 million.
In terms of personnelexpenditures, non-personnel
expenditures actually decreased.
In this FY26 budget proposal,the single biggest one is the
(30:57):
jail and food services andthat's a process we go through.
Do we go through that everyyear or every other year?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
What's the We've never been.
We haven't been that out inseveral years.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
In several years.
At any rate, we've got somesubstantial savings in that this
year and that helped quite abit in terms of our
non-personnel expenditures.
We'll go through the rest ofthose other than there are some
things that are very, very, verydifficult for us to manage,
especially when it comes down tothat other operating cost,
(31:29):
which, if you total those up,it's about $1.6 million or so
there.
But our software subscriptionsand maintenance the tech
services director knows everyyear I complain about it when
Microsoft says oh, by the way,we're going to increase your
subscriptions to all theseplatforms that you use by X
(31:50):
percent and that X percent isway more than our revenue cap
that the state has imposed.
And unless we go back to bigtwo tablets and number two
pencils, we don't really have achoice.
We have to pay it.
Utilities another thing we haveto keep the lights on when we
add facilities, we've gotadditional costs for those.
(32:11):
But when the utilities increasetheir costs, just like for a
homeowner, there are very littleoptions available there for us,
especially when we're addingsquare footage across the county
.
Those are some costs that go upthat we really have very, very
little control.
We try to manage them the bestwe can.
We're part of a pool for ourelectrical costs.
(32:34):
Statewide.
That pool goes out andpurchases electricity at a
discount and that's a good thingand we'll continue to do that
and that's all good, but again,those costs still continue to
increase.
Our fund balance also veryimportant Again, we must
maintain for our policies aminimum of three months.
(32:55):
We'll see there.
For the past five, five yearswe've been as high as almost six
months in reserve.
That's unassigned, and thisbudget we're proposing a fund
balance of about 4.2 months inunassigned fund.
Again, all of those numbersabove what is minimally required
under our policies, and I wouldsay we continue to have a very
(33:16):
healthy fund balance.
This is another way looking atour revenues, uh, where they
come from, I won't spend muchtime on that, but it just
allocates those by percentages.
Our expenditures, um, I'veoften said, if, if you look at
that pie graph and you look atwhere most of your county tax
(33:38):
dollar goes, most of it, themajority of your county tax
dollar goes to public safety andit always has.
Um, I I've not looked at acounty budget going back decades
that that was not the case.
Public safety is always thenumber one priority for the
county and so, uh, sheriff'sdepartment, the jail, um the
(34:00):
deputies, the judiciary, thedistrict attorney's office, um
the clerk's offices that handlethe paperwork associated with
those dockets in those judges'courtrooms and that are in the
hands of the prosecutors and thedefense attorneys.
All of that relates to publicsafety, and that's at least 60
(34:23):
to 70 percent, in my view, ofyour county tax dollar is where
it goes.
I also consider a lot of thatalmost non-discretionary in some
regards.
We have to operate the jail.
We have to operate that Now.
We try to do so and the sherifftries to do so as efficiently
as possible so that we'reproviding that service that
(34:46):
we're required to do but at thesame time being mindful of the
dollars that we're spending atthe jail.
But public safety is a priorityin this budget, just as it has
been in every budget, all funds.
All I've talked about so far isour general fund, but we have
other funds and I won't gothrough all of those today, but
when you go through all of thoseall totaled we're about $233
(35:11):
million plus in terms of ourtotal budget.
I tell people all the time thatyour county government is a
multi-million dollar corporationand again, it has been for a
long time, but that justillustrates that.
So that's your all funds andyou can see the other funds here
listed there.
And again, it has been for along time, but that just
illustrates that.
So that's your all funds andyou can see the other funds
listed there.
(35:31):
All right, the money slide, soto speak.
This is the proposed tax ratefor FY26.
You see the current tax rate onthe first line, the proposed
tax tax rate and then the change, and you'll note that what is
being proposed in thispreliminary budget for fy 26 is
a decrease, a decrease in theproposed property tax rate, and
(35:55):
the proposed rate is the no newrevenue rate.
I'll show you another slidehere about years.
We have done that and we havedone it more than one year.
Our current rate, total rateincluding the road and bridge
tax, is $34.45.
The proposed rate would dropthat by a little more than a
(36:23):
penny to get to the no newrevenue rate, which is at $33.27
.
There's your property tax ratesfor the past decade or so and
you'll see that since 2016 totoday, except for one year, that
rate has been maintained ordeclined every year, and again,
I think that's attributable tolots of things.
The growth in the county hashelped us do that.
(36:46):
The way your elected officialsand department heads manage the
dollars that we appropriate inthis budget has helped that to
occur also.
But again, the Bell County taxrate is $31.28 plus the 199 and
33.27.
So tax rate impact on anaverage home value the 2025 rate
(37:09):
was 34.45 per $100 valuation.
The 26 proposed rate is 33.27.
There are two assumptions thatare important in the calculation
that follows, and thoseassumptions are that the average
taxable home value of 286,887.
That's our average across thecounty, the appraised value from
(37:31):
2025, is unchanged.
So that assumption is that yourproperty value has not
increased.
There's been no re-appraisal onit that has gone upwards on it.
If those two things are true,then your average county, your
tax bill for the county portionof your taxes, will decline by
(37:52):
$33.86.
It will be that much less, or$2.82 a month.
And again, those twoassumptions are important
because not everybody's homeremains the same and we
understand that.
Uh, one of the things we alsolike to do is, uh, do
comparisons in terms of taxrates.
Um, we don't always have allwhen we do this presentation.
(38:15):
We don't always have the mostcurrent proposed tax rate for
the other entities in the countyuh.
So those are the footnotes thatare on there.
Current rate or proposed ratemaybe not yet adopted but you'll
see on the Bell County tax rate3327, that's almost half of
what the four largest cities'tax rates are across the county.
(38:39):
For school districts, as you allknow, that's the majority of
your property tax bill isassociated with school districts
and there are the tax, thecurrent rates that we are aware
of.
Um, I guess temple isd hasalready adopted or proposed
maybe not adopted but proposed arate for uh the next fiscal
year.
But you see, all of uh, templeisd is over a dollar for 100,
(39:02):
belton isd is over $1 andColleen is just under it at
$0.87 per $100.
And in the bottom right is thepercent of your tax bill for
Bell County, depending uponwhich school district your
property is located in.
So if you are in Temple ISDschool district, then the county
(39:24):
percentage of your tax bill is14%, which means 86% of your tax
bill is associated withsomebody else and not Bell
County.
If you live in Belton ISD andin the county, then it's up to
2% is the county bill, but still78% of your tax bill is
(39:44):
associated with some otherentity.
In addition to looking at ourtax rates locally and within the
county.
We also survey and look outsideand we look at about I don't
know a dozen, 15, maybe 16counties or so outside that
surround Bell County and look atthose tax rates.
I won't go around the wholeregion there, but I think you'll
(40:09):
see that our tax rate isextremely good when compared to
other counties that are aroundus.
All right FY26 projects Again.
I won't spend a lot of time onthis slide either, but again,
public safety, just as it doeswithin our operating budgets,
also dominates our project listin terms of what we're doing.
(40:33):
The expansion of our generalpopulation at the jail is a huge
, huge undertaking by the county, the largest single capital
improvement project in thehistory of the county, and in
addition to that we're adding amental health unit there, which
we think is sorely needed.
The largest mental health carefacility in the county is your
(40:54):
county jail, and your countyjail was never designed to be a
mental health facility, butthat's what it has become and
that's what it is.
So we must recognize thatreality and treat those
individuals with the best carethat we can while they're in our
custody.
With the closing of the radiosystem expansion, various other
jail projects and some juveniledetention center projects again
(41:19):
all of those things publicsafety related.
There's about $5 million forfacilities, major work to do at
facilities.
We have 28 or 30 differentfacilities across the county.
They are in a constant state ofmaintenance.
Some maintenance is relativelysmall and some maintenance is
not, and so again, significantdollars allocated there.
(41:43):
So again, significant dollarsallocated there.
And then facilities.
The last thing I wouldhighlight on this slide is
facilities the Clean Annex webroke ground on that just a
month or two ago, I think, andthat project is underway.
The Temple Annex I wouldanticipate some activity or some
(42:05):
action associated with that inthis next fiscal year or so.
That's my next to last slide,and I only put this slide up
here because the state makes usdo it, because I think it's a
very confusing thing to do.
The only thing I'm going toread off of that slide is the
last bullet, which the statedoesn't mandate, and I put it on
(42:26):
there, which is the proposedtax rate is about one penny
lower than the FY25 tax rate.
That, to me, is the money pointon that slide.
The rest of that, in my mind,adds more confusion than it does
clarity, but the state requiresus to put that on the front
(42:46):
page of our budget, so we do it.
We have three public hearings.
I've already mentioned that thecourt accepted or adopted those
dates at the previous item onthe agenda.
Today, wednesday August 20th,at 6 pm, there will be a tax
rate public hearing in this roomand then on Monday, august 25th
(43:08):
, we'll adopt or consideradopting our budget as well as
hold a public hearing for that,and we'll hold a public hearing
on the tax rate again and we'llalso set the tax rate on August
25th.
So adoption of the budget,setting the tax rate, all set
for August 25th, and I thinkthat's my last slide.
Commissioners, any questions?
Comments?
This was again presentation.
Presentation.
No action required on this item, but we typically do a
(43:28):
presentation in concert withsetting those presentation dates
.
All right, and thatpresentation if we haven't
already I don't know that weposted before it's given in here
, but we'll post that on our Webpage so anyone, everybody, can
(43:52):
have access to that.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Thank you, judge Blackburn, for that Presentation
.
Now the citizens are a littlebit smarter on county government
and what we're doing, and soit's still your opportunity to
get involved, ask questions, getthings changed around.
We're staying at the no newrevenue rate, which also equals
(44:18):
no new growth, and ask me aboutthat and I'll go into detail
about that.
That and I'll go into detailabout that.
One quick thing before I forgetwe have to educate ourselves on
issues that the public areasking for change on, and I'm
(44:39):
referencing the animal shelter.
So I am no expert in animalshelter operations, anything
about animals.
I mean, I own dogs and cats,but nothing on a grand scale
like this.
So when it was brought to me,I've had many, many people say
(45:03):
that you need to visitWilliamson County.
Williamson County is gettingthings right.
So I set up a meeting with thedirector down there, misty,
williamson County RegionalAnimal Shelter and I was blown
away.
I was blown away.
I went there on the 13th August, the 13th in the morning, with
(45:26):
a couple of people from BellCounty and it was amazing what
they're doing over there.
And yeah, I get it, it's alarger county.
But she said Misty, thedirector said that she's helping
(45:49):
Lampasas County because theyasked for help and just the
things that they're doing withoutreach years trying to get the
dog the treatment it needs tomake it safe to go to a loving
(46:15):
family, to the dog's foreverhome, and that would never
happen in bell county, neverhappen in Bell County, never
happen.
So you know it goes with funding.
You got to fund it and, like Isaid, williamson County is
definitely a much larger countyand they have a little bit more
(46:38):
resources.
But they had 50 employees downthere.
Their operating budget is $4million a year.
Employees down there, theiroperating budget is $4 million a
year and they have a very nice,very large facility and they
are an intake facility.
So they're getting things right.
You know we probably won'tspend $4 million a year on an
(46:59):
animal shelter operations, on ananimal shelter operations, but
we can do better and there arethings that we can do to improve
the lives of those animals.
So let's keep working.
You know this is a long game.
So we know what the goal isright and we just work every day
(47:28):
towards that goal.
Lesson in life Remember squeakywheel gets the oil.
Learn that in the Army.
So thank you everyone forlistening and we will talk to
you next week.
Outro Music.
Welcome.
You're listening to the LouieMiner Show.
I'm your host.
Bell County Commissioner, louieMiner, today is August 17th
2025.
We have a lot to cover.
So let's go over the agendareal quick and then we'll get
into what happened last week ifyou've been following the animal
(00:28):
shelter and then what's goingon next week.
So for Monday, the 18th meetingof the Commissioner's Court,
beginning at 9 am, we have theinvocation, pledge of allegiance
and then consent agenda items,the regular minutes for Monday,
(00:50):
august that should be 11, 2000,or August 18, 2025.
And then consider approval ofthe August 4th 2025 and August
11th 2025.
Meeting of the Commissioner'sCourt Personnel, budget
amendments, claims, accounts,payable, payroll, restitution,
(01:12):
jury pay.
Then we have departmentalsubmissions.
Consider authorizing the countyjudge to execute a settlement
(01:37):
participation agreement with theTexas Attorney General's Office
concerning the statewide opioidsettlement agreement with
Purdue Pharma LP and the Sacklerfamily of the FY26 Feral Hog
Program.
Hog Abatement Grant applicationin the amount of $5,525 with a
funding match required of $0 forBell County Health.
Feral Hog Abatement to theTexas A&M AgriLife Extension
(02:00):
Services.
Designated the Bell Countyjudge as the authorized official
agent for the grant.
Then for receiving update fromon the bell core habitat
conservation plan.
Then we have five countyengineer 5a.
Consider and approve the finalplat Levi Acres being a 10.968
(02:27):
acre 3 lot 1 block subdivisionlocated in Precinct 1.
5b.
Consider and approve a finalplat of Little Joseph Ranch
being a 19.997 acre 16 lot 1block subdivision located in
Precinct 3.
16-lot one-block subdivisionlocated in Precinct 3.
5c.
Consider and approve the finalplat of Woodford Salado being a
(02:58):
55.017-acre 12-lot one-blocksubdivision located in Precinct
2.
And then consider and approvethe Stennett Mills Estate Phase
2, mills Estate Phase 2 being a28.19 acre 36 lot 5 block
subdivision located in Precinct2.
Then we have regular agendaitems.
Consider an order giving noticerelating to the November 4,
(03:25):
2025 constitutional amendmentspecial elections pursuant to
section 3.00 of the TexasElection Code.
Consider authorizing the countyjudge to sign Riverside Trail
Design Proposal from KPAEngineers for Professional
Services at a cost of $687,000from precinct funds and
associated budget amendments.
Precinct funds and associatedbudget amendments.
(03:46):
Consider authorizing the countyjudge to sign MRB group
proposal for professionalservices designed for Bell
County Radio Shop Avenue OBelton for $77,600, funded by
CIP.
For $77,600.
(04:07):
Funded by CIP.
And then consider theappointment of Landy Setzer,
michael Welsh, glenn Willis, jayPruitt and Jerry Lancaster To
the Bell County EmergencyService District Two as board
members.
That is everything for ourregular agenda.
(04:31):
Then we have our workshopImmediately following that is
reports and updates from variouscounty offices and departments
Capital improvement projectsupdate on jail expansion and
temporary jail facilities.
Capital Improvement ProjectsUpdate on Jail Expansion and
Temporary Jail Facilities.
The Killeen Annex Discuss FY2025 CIP Plan.
Then we have items CommissionerDepartmental Submissions
(04:59):
Discuss City of Temple ProposedAgreement for Municipal Services
in the City of Temple.
Proposed agreement formunicipal services in the City
of Temple for 4.8607 plus orminus acres of land and the
right-of-way in the city.
Extraterritorial jurisdictionagreement to annex approximately
(05:23):
1.302 plus or minus acres ofland in the city's
extraterritorial jurisdiction.
Then we have review and discussjail efficiency and efficiency
study report by CGL.
Then we have discuss FY 2026CIP projects.
(05:44):
Then we go into closed sessionfor update on courtroom security
and employees emergency safetyresponse initiatives and that is
everything.
And then we have meetings thatthe commissioners may attend.
(06:09):
We have August 25th, bellCounty Extension Education
Association of the TexasAgriLife, texas A&M AgriLife
Extension Luncheon.
Then we have August 27thRetirement Reception for Dirk
Aaron Clearwater Board.
August 27th through 29th 2025,legislative Conference in Austin
.
That is, tac, texas Associationof Counties.
(06:33):
Then, october 14th we have BellCounty Committee for Peoples
with Disability.
And that is everything for theworkshop and the regular agenda.
And that is everything for theworkshop and the regular agenda.
We do have a special meetingand that is on the 20th.
It will be, let's seeinvocation pledge of allegiance
(06:56):
to the flag.
Presentation of the proposed FY2025-26 budget.
Then, item four conduct firstpublic tax rate public hearing
on the proposed FY 2025-2026 taxrate.
(07:22):
For the agendas for this week.
So what I want to do is go backto last week and just catch
everyone up.
If you remember last week'sshow, we talked about the animal
shelter issues at the animalshelter and recommendations to
(07:43):
fix that shelter andrecommendations to fix that.
So we had on the agenda discussfunding an outreach coordinator
for the animal shelter.
So let me play the clip of howthat went from.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
Channel 6 that covered the meeting on Monday A
push by animal advocates to funda new position at the Bell
County Animal Shelter failedtoday.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
The motion was denied at a special meeting of the
Bell County Commissioner's Courtthis morning.
6 News reporter Sydney Walkerwas at that meeting and shares
more on what locals and thesheriff had to say After reports
of high euthanasia rates at theBell County Animal Shelter.
Local animal advocates havequestions.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Their answer A proposal for a new position the
Bell County Animal Shelter.
Bell County has growntremendously, but the shelter is
the same as it was in 2011.
Is in hot water.
Speaker 3 (08:44):
Public transparency and trust, proper funding this
is what the residents areseeking In data obtained by 6
News, 60 dogs and 126 cats wereeuthanized in June alone.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
Are 600 plus more animals going to be euthanized
before the proper funding isapproved With the help of
Precinct?
Speaker 3 (09:02):
4.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Commissioner Louie Miner advocates hoped to create
a new position Funding afull-time outreach coordinator
at $37,000 annually, plusbenefits, will reduce cost,
improve efficiency andstrengthen public trust.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
A role under the commissioner's court, not the
sheriff's department which runsthe shelter help the sheriff
immensely to have somebody whoseonly task is to try to find
viable placement for animals atthe shelter.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
The sheriff shouldn't worry about that.
Sheriff Bill Cook notedstruggles.
I need some help out there.
But efforts to hire anotheranimal control officer also
failed today.
Speaker 4 (09:40):
We have turned the corner.
Give us just a little bit.
Speaker 3 (09:43):
While in support of the position.
I am not pleased with oureuthanasia rate right now.
He believes there should be ananimal shelter.
We have turned the corner.
Give us just a little bit,While in support of the position
.
Speaker 4 (09:51):
I am not pleased with our euthanasia rate right now.
He believes there should be ananimal shelter separate from
animal control.
I can never assure you that itwill be a no-kill facility.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
Regardless.
Miner still supported themotion, while the rest of the
court opposed.
Conversations surrounding theanimal shelter are expected to
continue, despite today's failedmotion.
We'll keep you updated as thisstory continues In Belton,
sydney Walker 6 News.
Speaker 1 (10:12):
Well, there you have it.
Commissioners voted no onsomething that the citizens
wanted.
This is what they came up withOutreach coordinator to help
start moving in the rightdirection on the animal shelter,
and it was denied.
And the public is starting tosee how their local officials
(10:40):
are.
They want to wait, they want topush them off.
They want to acknowledge theircomplaints, acknowledge their
issues and say we're working onit and not do anything and hope
that they forget.
Hope the public forgets.
The public is not going toforget this.
(11:02):
621 and counting animals havebeen slaughtered under the Bell
County Commissioner watch,allowing the sheriff to do this.
So it's time for us to getinvolved, do something, and I
(11:23):
like that.
The animal rescues areorganizing and doing something
because they don't want animalsdying left and know these are
unhealthy, sick, aggressive dogs.
I'm sure some of them are, butyou got to keep in mind 621.
(12:00):
There's no way that 621 animalsare aggressive and that sick
where they're not even given achance.
So on the 20th, remember we'rehaving a special meeting in the
evening for the budget, thegroup they're calling themselves
(12:26):
PAW Public Accountability forAnimal Welfare.
They are hosting a rally at theBell County Commissioner's
Court Wednesday, august 20th at5 pm and then immediately
following that, they're going toattend the Bell County public
hearing on the tax rate at six.
So hopefully you come out andsupport them, support the
(12:52):
animals, and let's make somechange here in Bell County.
You got to push for change, yougot to fight for change, you
got to advocate for change.
Change is not just going tohappen out of the blue.
You have to get involved andyou're doing it.
You're doing it, paul, you aredoing it.
(13:17):
So I appreciate what you'redoing, because that's the only
way things are going to change,because that's the only way
things are going to change.
So at this last meeting that wehad, the judge gave the
presentation for their proposedbudget and tax rate.
So I'm going to play that inits entirety about your Bell
(13:51):
County budget and tax rate forthe upcoming FY25-26 year.
So let me pull that up for you.
Speaker 5 (13:55):
All right, thank you, gordon.
Next item is item four, whichis presentation of the proposed
FY2026 budget.
It should be coming up on thescreen right now and I don't
have the clicker.
Thank you, all right.
(14:25):
This is our, again,presentation on the proposed
budget.
Preliminary budget for FY26.
There is the Bell Countymission statement.
The government of Bell County,texas, exists to promote and
sustain a sphere of quality oflife for Central Texas.
In partnership with ourcommunities and our citizens, we
pledge to delivercost-effective services in a
personal, responsive, innovativemanner.
I don't think that missionstatement has changed in many,
(14:48):
many, many years.
This is your Commissioner'sCourt, along with our County
Auditor, and all of those peopleare present here today.
Since the Auditor's office putsthis presentation together.
We're going to do financialhighlights first.
Bond rating is an importantfactor whenever we put budgets
(15:10):
together.
Bond ratings are an indicationof the financial health and
strength of any entity.
It's an outside agency or thirdparty that rates the necessary
finances to ensure that we'remanaging those properly and
being good stewards of thosedollars.
County bond rating, by standardand course, is currently a
double, double, a plus, which isa very strong rating.
It's the second highest ratingthat you can get under the s?
(15:32):
P rankings um.
In my opinion it will be thehighest rating that Bell County
can ever receive.
A higher rating would requiresubstantially more assessed
taxable value and just a much,much larger entity than what
Bell County is today.
So I think that's as high as wecan go, given who we are.
(15:54):
Factors that have elevated ourbond rating to AA+ we've got a
diversifying and expandingeconomic base, significant
military presence, of course,with Fort Hood.
We do have strong financialperformance and we generally
have adequate, very adequate,general fund reserves and a very
moderate debt burden, withlimited future capital needs
(16:16):
that have been identified.
Our unassigned fund balance inthis proposed budget is four
months reserve.
Three months is the minimumaccording to our policy, so
we're above that.
We are among the lowest advalorem property tax rates in
the region and in the state.
We are in excellent financialcondition.
The quote there, I think, comesfrom Standard Poor's, one of
(16:39):
their bond rating reports, whichis our financial condition is
strong due to conservativebudgeting practices.
Standard Poor's states we viewthe county's management as very
strong, with strong financialpolicies and practices.
So again, all of that just tosay that our financial position
for the county is very strong.
I always try to put in apopulation and growth chart to
(17:00):
show what our county is doingreally decade to decade, but in
the middle of those decades, usewhatever fiscal year.
We're in For 2025, bestestimate that I see for our
population is about 404,000, soI think we have crossed the
400,000 population barriernumber.
(17:23):
Our growth rates for the pastcouple of decades have surpassed
both the national growth rateas well as the state growth rate
, so we are one of the fastgrowth counties in the state of
Texas, which makes us one of thefast growth counties in the
United States.
This is property values for thepast 10 plus years or so.
(17:50):
I guess 10 or so years.
This is taxable assessed values.
Taxable assessed values arevery, very important because we
derive a significant portion ofour revenue from property tax
revenues, so assessed valuesthat are taxable are key revenue
indicators for us.
The thing I would highlightabout that chart is, again,
(18:12):
continued growth.
That's part of what that showsis taxable values that continue
to grow.
And then it's not a footnote,but in the bottom left-hand
corner of that slide it's gotthe net increases that are due
where those net increases comefrom.
I was asking the auditorearlier today and this weekend
(18:32):
about when was the last time wesaw new value?
Time we saw new value thetaxable assessed value increase,
attributable more to new valuesbeing added than reappraisals.
We both think, I think thatit's been more than a decade, 19
.
So 2019.
So it's been several yearssince that has occurred.
(18:54):
That's good news.
Essentially.
Again, it just furtherdemonstrates the growth that is
occurring in the county and thenew growth that is occurring in
the county.
So 51% of that net increase isattributable to new values being
added to tax rolls that weren'ton the tax rolls last year.
Oh sorry, I don't know how togo back.
(19:14):
Can you go backwards for me onthat?
Yeah, the other thing that Iwas going to highlight on that
slide was not since 2022, Iguess, have we seen a
single-digit increase in thosevalues.
In other words, we've haddouble-digit increases in
(19:38):
assessed values over the pastthree fiscal years.
I guess this year it's asingle-digit, but again, most of
that is tributary value.
So I still think that is a goodsign and a good indicator.
Besides property taxes, salestax receipts are also very
important to us.
Those two property tax revenueand sales tax receipts fund the
(20:00):
majority of our revenue tooperate the county 2025
projected revenue from sales taxis a little over $35 million.
That's an increase of about 4%,a little more than 4% over 2024
.
So again, good indication ofthe economy.
I always have to put a slide inbecause it's significant for us
(20:25):
, it's significant for countiesacross the state, but it's more
significant for some counties, Iwould argue, than others, and
I'll have another slide thatwill follow.
Just to highlight one of thereasons the state imposed
services that the state requiresthe county to do but does not
fund the county to do it, whichmeans your local property taxes
(20:48):
pay for this, and so I alwaystry to have a slide in the deck
that shows some of those areaswhere we have got state imposed
costs to deliver a service or todo something that the state
doesn't pay for.
Top of that list, which I'llcome right back to in a second,
is the 100% disabled spouseproperty tax exemption.
(21:10):
That equates now to about $0.45on your property taxes.
That is paid locally for thatstate-imposed exemption, and I
don't think anyone up here inany year has argued against that
exemption or indicated that thestate shouldn't grant that
exemption.
It's just about who should payfor that exemption and if the
(21:31):
state imposes it, then the stateshould pay for.
That has been our position.
In health care, the staterequires us to provide health
care to those that cannot affordor cannot acquire health care
on their own.
That equates to a little morethan two and a half cents on
your property tax rate.
In terms of what we spend andyou see the whole list there in
(21:53):
terms of this year, our totaltax rate all of those state
mandated requirements costaround $40 million.
That roughly equates to alittle more than 10 cents of
your property tax rate.
That's approaching a third ofyour tax rate is for what the
state requires us to do but doesnot provide funding to do this.
(22:17):
One I want to highlight, becausewe've had multiple discussions,
which was at the top of thatlist that I just showed you, was
the Disabled Veterans,homestead and Survival and
Spouse Tax Exemption.
And again I want to reemphasizeI don't think anyone up here
argues that that exemptionshould not exist.
We won't take that position atall.
But you can see from 2009 and2010, when that exemption was
(22:41):
first authorized, all the way upto today, the growth in the
number of exemptions across thecounty.
We've gone from about 701properties that are eligible for
that exemption to now close to17,000 properties across the
county.
That's significant growth inthat exemption and you can also
(23:03):
see the taxable value that getsexempted.
It's significant.
And then the reimbursement bythe state, which is one of the
things that we are appreciativeof, is the state does offer some
reimbursement for counties thatare in cities that are
disproportionately impacted,because we have a high number of
(23:25):
veterans in this area anddisabled veterans.
That's understandable andobvious.
But so the state years ago didoffer some legislative relief on
that, but they have never fullyfunded that relief.
So they passed a law saying wewill do this but did not fully
fund that and they never havefully funded it.
In this past year I think webudgeted about $2 million for
(23:50):
reimbursement from the state.
What's?
Speaker 3 (23:53):
the number In this current year two and a half.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Two and a half In this upcoming year.
We're anticipating, since thestate just passed new
legislation on this, thatexpanded eligibility.
There are now going to be moreentities applying for that state
reimbursement but the amount ofdollars that are going to be
allocated, or that we believewill be allocated, will actually
not make us whole, not evenclose to whole, and will
(24:19):
actually result in a decrease inthe reimbursement that we
received this past year.
So expanded eligibility but didnot sufficiently expand the
reimbursement funds that comefrom the state.
That's a significant issue forBell County.
It's a significant issue forsome cities in Bell County, and
Killeen being probably the topof that list.
(24:40):
It's just a significant issue.
So I wanted to spend a littlebit of time on that.
We'll continue to work thisissue legislatively with our
state representatives andhopefully at some point in the
future we can see somethingbetter.
But it's a significant issueand again, almost four and a
half cents on our tax rate isassociated with this.
(25:01):
All right, that's somebackground big picture revenue
and a little bit on the statemandates, our proposed budget
revenues and expenditures forthe general fund $165 million to
$98 million.
You'll notice that those twonumbers balance, which is
(25:23):
somewhat unusual.
It's certainly unusual in theworld of federal government,
which has never balanced or Ishouldn't say never hasn't
balanced the budget in decades.
I don't think we must, as localgovernments must balance the
budget.
We cannot operate in deficitsat the local level and this
budget does balance.
(25:43):
Here's a big picture pie chartthat shows revenues for the
general fund.
I won't go through all of those.
You'll see a green trianglepointed up and a red triangle
pointed down.
That just means that that moneyor that line, that dollar
amount there.
If it's a green triangle, thatmeans that those dollars went up
year to year.
If it's a red, that means itwent down a little bit.
(26:04):
And you'll see a mix Some wentup, some went down.
At the end it's 165, 298, 540.
As I mentioned earlier,property taxes and sales tax
represent about 75, 80 percentor so of our budget in terms of
revenue and you see the otherrevenue sources that are
associated with the budget.
This is our history for thegeneral fund.
(26:27):
It just looks at it a littlebit different way visually, but
you can see the bar graph interms of revenues and again,
property tax revenue because ofgrowth and reappraisals and
sales tax revenue because ofgrowth in salesraisals and sales
tax revenue because of growthin sales tax moves those bars
upward Expenditures.
The county is a service-basedorganization and what that means
(26:51):
is our primary expense if we'rea service-based organization is
always going to be in personneland staffing, because that's
the majority of our cost, and soout of our $165 million budget,
over $101 million of that goestowards staff and benefits and
(27:13):
the things that you see listedthere.
Again, 60-40 is about how itshakes out.
If you look at this graph, forexample, on the school district,
that personnel part of thatwould be even bigger because
they have lots and lots ofteachers and so they're very,
very heavy on personnel andstaff and service expenses in
their budget.
So it really is a function ofwhat type of organization you
(27:35):
have in terms of where thosedollars go to.
But for service-basedorganizations, I don't think
I've ever seen one wherestaffing wasn't more than half
of that budget and usually quitea bit more than that.
Our expenditure history generalfund uh, adopted, proposed
again, looking at it just alittle bit differently, but
there you can see what theexpenditures have been in terms
(27:57):
of adopted and proposed, and andagain, $165,298 is what we're
proposing this year in terms ofexpenses In terms of those
expenses.
Here's where the vast majorityof those new expenditures are.
For the FY26 budget, as it hasbeen presented anyway, we're
(28:18):
proposing to add 11 newpositions seven in the judiciary
component of our budget, twopublic safety and then four
other positions.
That's a little over $1.1million for adding those
positions.
Increase in public safetypositions We'll be opening the
expansion of the jail in thisfiscal year.
(28:40):
We budgeted some time ago tobegin that process to fill new
positions that are needed as aresult of that expansion and
this represents the cost forbudgeting those positions at 75
percent.
Beginning in roughly January ortime frame.
Stafford's salary change changesmandated by the state and we're
going to have more discussionabout that today.
(29:02):
But there are some statutorysalary changes that have been
mandated by the state.
Some of those changes are paidfor by the state and some of
those changes are not paid forby the state.
So this back to unfundedmandates.
I didn't highlight it but itwas on that other chart that I
showed you where there is a costassociated with a salary
increase that the state is notpaying for but mandates that the
(29:25):
county pay for County-wide payincrease 2%.
Cola is included within thispreliminary budget Merit pay.
The commissioner's court adopteda year or two ago maybe two
years ago now a merit payapproach for employees so that
department heads are allocatedsome funds so that they can,
(29:47):
through an evaluation system,afford merit increases during
the course of the year based onthat evaluation system, and
there's a cost associated withthat because it's pay, it's
compensation.
We also do reclassificationsthrough our budget process.
Reclassification is notnecessarily related to a person.
It's related to the position,which means a job description or
(30:10):
a job position has changed, andif it's changed, then the
department head comes forward inthe budget process and tells us
this job was doing this, it isnow doing this and it should be
reclassified under our pay planfor another tier.
These represent again $56,000worth of reclassifications for
(30:31):
those positions in the pay plan.
Overtime, part-time-type payactually decreased and then
changes in benefits and ratesalso actually decreased this
year.
So all totaled a little over$4.4 million.
In terms of personnelexpenditures, non-personnel
expenditures actually decreased.
In this FY26 budget proposal,the single biggest one is the
(30:57):
jail and food services andthat's a process we go through.
Do we go through that everyyear or every other year?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
What's the We've never been.
We haven't been that out inseveral years.
Speaker 5 (31:08):
In several years.
At any rate, we've got somesubstantial savings in that this
year and that helped quite abit in terms of our
non-personnel expenditures.
We'll go through the rest ofthose other than there are some
things that are very, very, verydifficult for us to manage,
especially when it comes down tothat other operating cost,
(31:29):
which, if you total those up,it's about $1.6 million or so
there.
But our software subscriptionsand maintenance the tech
services director knows everyyear I complain about it when
Microsoft says oh, by the way,we're going to increase your
subscriptions to all theseplatforms that you use by X
(31:50):
percent and that X percent isway more than our revenue cap
that the state has imposed.
And unless we go back to bigtwo tablets and number two
pencils, we don't really have achoice.
We have to pay it.
Utilities another thing we haveto keep the lights on when we
add facilities, we've gotadditional costs for those.
(32:11):
But when the utilities increasetheir costs, just like for a
homeowner, there are very littleoptions available there for us,
especially when we're addingsquare footage across the county
.
Those are some costs that go upthat we really have very, very
little control.
We try to manage them the bestwe can.
We're part of a pool for ourelectrical costs.
(32:34):
Statewide.
That pool goes out andpurchases electricity at a
discount and that's a good thingand we'll continue to do that
and that's all good, but again,those costs still continue to
increase.
Our fund balance also veryimportant Again, we must
maintain for our policies aminimum of three months.
(32:55):
We'll see there.
For the past five, five yearswe've been as high as almost six
months in reserve.
That's unassigned, and thisbudget we're proposing a fund
balance of about 4.2 months inunassigned fund.
Again, all of those numbersabove what is minimally required
under our policies, and I wouldsay we continue to have a very
(33:16):
healthy fund balance.
This is another way looking atour revenues, uh, where they
come from, I won't spend muchtime on that, but it just
allocates those by percentages.
Our expenditures, um, I'veoften said, if, if you look at
that pie graph and you look atwhere most of your county tax
(33:38):
dollar goes, most of it, themajority of your county tax
dollar goes to public safety andit always has.
Um, I I've not looked at acounty budget going back decades
that that was not the case.
Public safety is always thenumber one priority for the
county and so, uh, sheriff'sdepartment, the jail, um the
(34:00):
deputies, the judiciary, thedistrict attorney's office, um
the clerk's offices that handlethe paperwork associated with
those dockets in those judges'courtrooms and that are in the
hands of the prosecutors and thedefense attorneys.
All of that relates to publicsafety, and that's at least 60
(34:23):
to 70 percent, in my view, ofyour county tax dollar is where
it goes.
I also consider a lot of thatalmost non-discretionary in some
regards.
We have to operate the jail.
We have to operate that Now.
We try to do so and the sherifftries to do so as efficiently
as possible so that we'reproviding that service that
(34:46):
we're required to do but at thesame time being mindful of the
dollars that we're spending atthe jail.
But public safety is a priorityin this budget, just as it has
been in every budget, all funds.
All I've talked about so far isour general fund, but we have
other funds and I won't gothrough all of those today, but
when you go through all of thoseall totaled we're about $233
(35:11):
million plus in terms of ourtotal budget.
I tell people all the time thatyour county government is a
multi-million dollar corporationand again, it has been for a
long time, but that justillustrates that.
So that's your all funds andyou can see the other funds here
listed there.
And again, it has been for along time, but that just
illustrates that.
So that's your all funds andyou can see the other funds
listed there.
(35:31):
All right, the money slide, soto speak.
This is the proposed tax ratefor FY26.
You see the current tax rate onthe first line, the proposed
tax tax rate and then the change, and you'll note that what is
being proposed in thispreliminary budget for fy 26 is
a decrease, a decrease in theproposed property tax rate, and
(35:55):
the proposed rate is the no newrevenue rate.
I'll show you another slidehere about years.
We have done that and we havedone it more than one year.
Our current rate, total rateincluding the road and bridge
tax, is $34.45.
The proposed rate would dropthat by a little more than a
(36:23):
penny to get to the no newrevenue rate, which is at $33.27
.
There's your property tax ratesfor the past decade or so and
you'll see that since 2016 totoday, except for one year, that
rate has been maintained ordeclined every year, and again,
I think that's attributable tolots of things.
The growth in the county hashelped us do that.
(36:46):
The way your elected officialsand department heads manage the
dollars that we appropriate inthis budget has helped that to
occur also.
But again, the Bell County taxrate is $31.28 plus the 199 and
33.27.
So tax rate impact on anaverage home value the 2025 rate
(37:09):
was 34.45 per $100 valuation.
The 26 proposed rate is 33.27.
There are two assumptions thatare important in the calculation
that follows, and thoseassumptions are that the average
taxable home value of 286,887.
That's our average across thecounty, the appraised value from
(37:31):
2025, is unchanged.
So that assumption is that yourproperty value has not
increased.
There's been no re-appraisal onit that has gone upwards on it.
If those two things are true,then your average county, your
tax bill for the county portionof your taxes, will decline by
(37:52):
$33.86.
It will be that much less, or$2.82 a month.
And again, those twoassumptions are important
because not everybody's homeremains the same and we
understand that.
Uh, one of the things we alsolike to do is, uh, do
comparisons in terms of taxrates.
Um, we don't always have allwhen we do this presentation.
(38:15):
We don't always have the mostcurrent proposed tax rate for
the other entities in the countyuh.
So those are the footnotes thatare on there.
Current rate or proposed ratemaybe not yet adopted but you'll
see on the Bell County tax rate3327, that's almost half of
what the four largest cities'tax rates are across the county.
(38:39):
For school districts, as you allknow, that's the majority of
your property tax bill isassociated with school districts
and there are the tax, thecurrent rates that we are aware
of.
Um, I guess temple isd hasalready adopted or proposed
maybe not adopted but proposed arate for uh the next fiscal
year.
But you see, all of uh, templeisd is over a dollar for 100,
(39:02):
belton isd is over $1 andColleen is just under it at
$0.87 per $100.
And in the bottom right is thepercent of your tax bill for
Bell County, depending uponwhich school district your
property is located in.
So if you are in Temple ISDschool district, then the county
(39:24):
percentage of your tax bill is14%, which means 86% of your tax
bill is associated withsomebody else and not Bell
County.
If you live in Belton ISD andin the county, then it's up to
2% is the county bill, but still78% of your tax bill is
(39:44):
associated with some otherentity.
In addition to looking at ourtax rates locally and within the
county.
We also survey and look outsideand we look at about I don't
know a dozen, 15, maybe 16counties or so outside that
surround Bell County and look atthose tax rates.
I won't go around the wholeregion there, but I think you'll
(40:09):
see that our tax rate isextremely good when compared to
other counties that are aroundus.
All right FY26 projects Again.
I won't spend a lot of time onthis slide either, but again,
public safety, just as it doeswithin our operating budgets,
also dominates our project listin terms of what we're doing.
(40:33):
The expansion of our generalpopulation at the jail is a huge
, huge undertaking by the county, the largest single capital
improvement project in thehistory of the county, and in
addition to that we're adding amental health unit there, which
we think is sorely needed.
The largest mental health carefacility in the county is your
(40:54):
county jail, and your countyjail was never designed to be a
mental health facility, butthat's what it has become and
that's what it is.
So we must recognize thatreality and treat those
individuals with the best carethat we can while they're in our
custody.
With the closing of the radiosystem expansion, various other
jail projects and some juveniledetention center projects again
(41:19):
all of those things publicsafety related.
There's about $5 million forfacilities, major work to do at
facilities.
We have 28 or 30 differentfacilities across the county.
They are in a constant state ofmaintenance.
Some maintenance is relativelysmall and some maintenance is
not, and so again, significantdollars allocated there.
(41:43):
So again, significant dollarsallocated there.
And then facilities.
The last thing I wouldhighlight on this slide is
facilities the Clean Annex webroke ground on that just a
month or two ago, I think, andthat project is underway.
The Temple Annex I wouldanticipate some activity or some
(42:05):
action associated with that inthis next fiscal year or so.
That's my next to last slide,and I only put this slide up
here because the state makes usdo it, because I think it's a
very confusing thing to do.
The only thing I'm going toread off of that slide is the
last bullet, which the statedoesn't mandate, and I put it on
(42:26):
there, which is the proposedtax rate is about one penny
lower than the FY25 tax rate.
That, to me, is the money pointon that slide.
The rest of that, in my mind,adds more confusion than it does
clarity, but the state requiresus to put that on the front
(42:46):
page of our budget, so we do it.
We have three public hearings.
I've already mentioned that thecourt accepted or adopted those
dates at the previous item onthe agenda.
Today, wednesday August 20th,at 6 pm, there will be a tax
rate public hearing in this roomand then on Monday, august 25th
(43:08):
, we'll adopt or consideradopting our budget as well as
hold a public hearing for that,and we'll hold a public hearing
on the tax rate again and we'llalso set the tax rate on August
25th.
So adoption of the budget,setting the tax rate, all set
for August 25th, and I thinkthat's my last slide.
Commissioners, any questions?
Comments?
This was again presentation.
Presentation.
No action required on this item, but we typically do a
(43:28):
presentation in concert withsetting those presentation dates
.
All right, and thatpresentation if we haven't
already I don't know that weposted before it's given in here
, but we'll post that on our Webpage so anyone, everybody, can
(43:52):
have access to that.
Speaker 1 (43:56):
Thank you, judge Blackburn, for that Presentation
.
Now the citizens are a littlebit smarter on county government
and what we're doing, and soit's still your opportunity to
get involved, ask questions, getthings changed around.
We're staying at the no newrevenue rate, which also equals
(44:18):
no new growth, and ask me aboutthat and I'll go into detail
about that.
That and I'll go into detailabout that.
One quick thing before I forgetwe have to educate ourselves on
issues that the public areasking for change on, and I'm
(44:39):
referencing the animal shelter.
So I am no expert in animalshelter operations, anything
about animals.
I mean, I own dogs and cats,but nothing on a grand scale
like this.
So when it was brought to me,I've had many, many people say
(45:03):
that you need to visitWilliamson County.
Williamson County is gettingthings right.
So I set up a meeting with thedirector down there, misty,
williamson County RegionalAnimal Shelter and I was blown
away.
I was blown away.
I went there on the 13th August, the 13th in the morning, with
(45:26):
a couple of people from BellCounty and it was amazing what
they're doing over there.
And yeah, I get it, it's alarger county.
But she said Misty, thedirector said that she's helping
(45:49):
Lampasas County because theyasked for help and just the
things that they're doing withoutreach years trying to get the
dog the treatment it needs tomake it safe to go to a loving
(46:15):
family, to the dog's foreverhome, and that would never
happen in bell county, neverhappen in Bell County, never
happen.
So you know it goes with funding.
You got to fund it and, like Isaid, williamson County is
definitely a much larger countyand they have a little bit more
(46:38):
resources.
But they had 50 employees downthere.
Their operating budget is $4million a year.
Employees down there, theiroperating budget is $4 million a
year and they have a very nice,very large facility and they
are an intake facility.
So they're getting things right.
You know we probably won'tspend $4 million a year on an
(46:59):
animal shelter operations, on ananimal shelter operations, but
we can do better and there arethings that we can do to improve
the lives of those animals.
So let's keep working.
You know this is a long game.
So we know what the goal isright and we just work every day
(47:28):
towards that goal.
Lesson in life Remember squeakywheel gets the oil.
Learn that in the Army.
So thank you everyone forlistening and we will talk to
you next week.
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