Reprint from the Progress Times -August 31, 2007
©Progress Times 2007 - All Rights Reserved

County schedules tax hearing

Hidalgo County will be holding a public hearing on the county’s 2007 Budget and Tax Increase September 11.

In the regularly scheduled Hidalgo County Commissioners Court meeting, the 2007 effective and rollback tax rates were submitted to the court. The report presented information about three tax rates.

Last year’s tax rate, 0.5900, is the actual rate the County used to determine property taxes last year. This year’s effective tax rate, 0.5357, would impose the same total taxes as last year if properties taxed in both years were compared.

This year’s rollback tax rate, 0.5900, is the highest tax rate the County can set before taxpayers can start tax rollback procedures.

In each case, the tax rates are found by dividing the total amount of taxes by the tax base, which is the total value of taxable property.

According to the report submitted to the court, at the end of the fiscal year the County will have $14.8 million in the General Fund, which is not encumbered by a corresponding debt obligation.

The Commissioners Court voted 4-1 in approval of the proposed 2007 tax rate and the scheduling of the public hearing. The single vote of dissent was Precinct 1 Commissioner Sylvia Handy.

Also voted on and approved in the meeting was a resolution to accept a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to permanently transfer equipment from the Hidalgo County High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Task Force to the Hidalgo County Constable’s Office Precinct 3.

The equipment, surplus at Hidalgo County HIDTA, consists of two Dell computers and a 2002 Ford F-150 pickup truck.