County’s Budget, Tax Rate Approved

Commissioners Court approved the 2018 Comal County budget and a tax rate to fund it on Sept. 7, setting expenditures for next year at $95.38 million and the tax rate at 35.7921 cents per $100 of property value (roughly $715 for a house valued at $200,000).

The main drivers of the increase over the 2017 budget were paying back debt used to build the new Comal County Jail and renovate two courtroom buildings in downtown New Braunfels, and increasing the county’s contingency funds.

The budget was approved Aug. 31, and the tax rate was set Sept. 7.

Budget Specifics

• Combined tax rate of 35.7921 cents per $100 assessed property valuation, an effective tax rate of 3.6413 cents, and a rollback tax rate of 37.7067 cents.
• The budget reflects a $9 million increase over the $84,020, 502 budget proposed for fiscal year 2017. Extra revenue will be used for debt service and the county’s contingency fund.
• Also included in the 2018 budget are a two-percent cost-of-living increase for county employees and two-percent salary adjustments aimed at keeping county salaries competitive.
• Infrastructure needs also factored in due to construction of a new county jail and a sheriff’s office expansion.
• The county’s tax rate in each of the past four years has been 34.2921 cents per $100 of property value, or about $685 per year on a $200,000 home.

The Commissioners Court sets this tax rate each year based on what is needed to fund the approved budget.