County will raise tax rate to cover higher salaries

Wichita County intends to raise its property tax rate to pay for higher salaries and other costs.

County commissioners held a poorly attended public hearing on their proposed 2023 tax rate Monday evening.

County Judge Woody Gossom said local governments can annually raise property tax rates by 3.5 percent without triggering a public vote on the hike. He said because the county has not raised rates in a couple of years, it has banked some rate-hike allowance.

“This year we had roughly up to seven percent to play with,” he said.

The proposed hike would be a 6 percent increase from 0.5754 cents per $100 of property evaluation to 0.6138 cents, bringing the total bill in 2023 to 57.54 cents per $100 of assessed value.

State law on property taxes is extremely complex and confusing. As an example of what the proposed rate would mean to homeowners, Gossom said the owner of a home appraised this year at $165,000 would pay $28.45 more than last year when the home was appraised at $150,000.

“That’s not too bad,” he said.

He said the hike in salaries is necessary because the county is losing workers and has dipped into its reserve funds and other funds to give pay raises in the hopes of keeping people.

“The number of people we are losing to other agencies – other counties and other cities -- drastically affects our ability to operate,” he said.

Generally, the proposed budget would give a five-percent raise to county workers making $50,000 or less and three percent to those making more, but some have already. or will, receive more.

Part of the increased tax money will be stashed away for law enforcement raises that already come out of federal COVID-19 relief money, but lasts only three years. The county has also given significant raises to legal and financial workers and faces higher costs for indigent defense and health care and other expenses.

The proposed 2023 budget is $98,197,264, including reserves. Property taxes account for 74 percent of Wichita County's revenue.

Commissioners will vote on the budget and tax rates in September and they will take effect Jan. 1, 2023.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: County will raise tax rate to cover higher salaries