Llano County approves property tax increase and modest budget; disagreements on raises
Llano County Pct. 3 Commissioner Brent Richards (far right) voiced his opposition to the county’s proposed budget, citing concerns over pay raises for the members of the Commissioners Court and the sheriff. He voted “no” on the budget, but was defeated by “yes’s” from Pct. 4 Commissioner Jerry Don Moss (far left), Pct. 2 Commissioner Linda Raschke, Judge Rob Hardy, and Pct. 1 Commissioner Peter Jones. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
The Llano County Commissioners Court has approved a property tax rate and budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, which begins on Oct. 1. The property tax levy and budget saw slight increases, but the court saw some internal disagreement over approved raises for its own members and the Llano County sheriff.
The Commissioners Court approved the new budget and tax rate during its regular meeting on Aug. 24.
Tax rate
The new tax rate is the same as the 2025-26 fiscal year rate of $0.25953 per $100 property valuation, but it is effectively an increase to property tax payments as property values have risen slightly since last year. The no-new-revenue rate, meaning the rate at which your property tax payment would have been the same as last year, would have been $0.25336, about 2.37 percent lower than the rate approved by the court this year.
The county has generally kept its tax rate the same or lower for the last several years, but it did make a large jump in the 2025-26 year to its current rate:
- 2018-19—$0.28650
- 2019-20—$0.3141
- 2020-21—$0.29574
- 2021-22—$0.29574
- 2022-23—$0.26621
- 2023-24—$0.26621
- 2024-25—$0.25012
- 2025-26—$0.25953
- 2026-27—$0.25953
Budget
Combining the county’s general fund, road & bridge fund, and debt service fund gives a general idea of the year-to-year increase or decrease in the county’s operating expenses.
This coming fiscal year, the county’s combined major funds have budgeted expenditures of a total of $31.94 million, which is about 5.4 percent higher than the current year’s $30.29 million in budgeted expenditures.
Salary raises disagreement
While the tax rate and budget were approved on Aug. 24, one member of the court voted against the budget, sharing that they disagreed with proposed $3,000 raises for the members of the Commissioners Court and a special $10,000 raise for the Llano County sheriff.
The Llano County Commissioners Court is made up of five members, four commissioners and a county judge, who are responsible for administering county policy and business, including setting the budget and tax rate for the year.
Pct. 3 Commissioner Brent Richards, who represents the Kingsland area, said that the court had previously announced that it would not seek raises for itself, but that was changed in the most recent iteration of the budget that was ultimately approved.
“A month ago, the court, the four of us (Pct. 1 Commissioner Peter Jones was absent) said we weren’t going to take a pay raise, and we announced that to the entire county,” Richards said publicly during the Aug. 24 meeting. “This time, two weeks ago, that was changed. The court decided to give the court a $3,000 pay raise. When I said ‘no,’ I said ‘no’ not only to my precinct, but I said ‘no’ to my lord and savior Jesus Christ.”
While the court did approve the raises, Richards instructed the county auditor to not give him the raise. County Judge Rob Hardy and Pct. 2 Commissioner Linda Raschke also rejected the raises.
Pct. 1 Commissioner Peter Jones told DailyTrib that he accepted the raise and Pct. 4 Commissioner Jerry Don Moss did not respond for comment on whether or not he accepted the salary increase.
The $3,000 was the same amount that all regular county employees received in the budget according to Jones.
“From the point of view of the commissioners, it is only reasonable that they get treated like every employee as a minimum,” he said. “It’s just treating the commissioners on this court the same as any basic employee. We’re not looking at any excessive amount.”
The $3,000 raise would bring a Llano County commissioner’s annual salary up by about 4 percent, from $73,786 to $76,786.
The $3,000 raise would bring the Llano County judge’s annual salary up by about 3.74 percent, from $80,009 to $83,009.
Richards also voiced opposition to a $10,000 raise for the Llano County sheriff, stating that he felt it was “playing favorites.”
“We played favorites, and we paid the sheriff a $10,000 dollar pay raise when all the rest of the other elected officials only got ($6,000),” he said. “There is no such thing as a merit increase for salaries. Sheriff (addressing Sheriff Marquis Cantu), no offense. When we do our job, even when we elected officials go above and beyond what they’re called to do, that’s why they got elected.”
Richards was referring to other elected officials who received $6,000 raises, like the county clerk, county auditor, justices of the peace, constables, and other county officials who were voted into office rather than regular employees.
The sheriff’s salary was raised by $10,000 in this budget, or about 11.87 percent, from $84,200 to $94,200.
Commissioners Moss and Jones, along with Judge Hardy, all argued that the larger raise was warranted as the sheriff’s office oversees around 67 employees, about a third of the county’s workforce.
“He runs more than a third of the employees in the county,” Judge Hardy said. “When they’re busy, they’re beyond busy, and we have to support that from the county’s standpoint, and from the other three incorporated cities.”
Richards ultimately stood his ground and voted against the budget based on the commissioners’ raises and the sheriff’s larger raise.
“I can tell you that we didn’t (do special raises) for the department heads,” Richards said. “They all got the same pay raise. If you’re giving (the sheriff) a pay raise because you think he does more, then I say he does more because that is what he got elected to do.”