Llano County approves lean budget and low tax rate for FY25

The Llano County Commissioners Court is dipping into reserves and cutting the budget to keep the county’s tax rate low for fiscal year 2024-25. Commissioners approved a lean budget and decreased the tax rate by 6 percent during their regular meeting Sept. 9. 

“What we did is run a deficit budget to utilize funds that are in excess in our reserves so that we can then reduce the tax rate,” Commissioner Peter Jones said at Monday’s meeting. “Even though you might see a deficit budget, that is more than made up by the excess reserves that we have.”

The upcoming fiscal year budget calls for $22.7 million in expenditures with only $18.9 million in revenue for the general fund—about a $3.8 million shortfall. According to plans, that $3.8 million comes out of the county’s reserves, currently at $11 million.

The decision to dip into cash reserves rather than funding the budget solely on the year’s expected revenue allowed the decrease in the overall tax rate from last fiscal year’s 0.26621 per $100 valuation tax rate to 0.25012 per $100 valuation for FY25.

While the tax rate decreased, revenues increased by about $1.38 million, or 7.24 percent, for FY25 due to increased property values and new property added to the county tax rolls. The new property, at $922,234, made up the lion’s share of the increase.

“(The commissioners) consciously made a decision to keep the taxes as low as possible and to use more of the reserves,” Llano County Auditor Kelly Echkart told DailyTrib.com after the meeting. “But our values in Llano County go up pretty much every year, so that results in additional revenue generated.”

dakota@thepicayune.com