Tax bills for Collin County homeowners likely to rise after commissioners approve new budget

Collin County's growing population needs more services — and that's leading to higher tax bills for homeowners as the county addresses budget needs for the upcoming fiscal year.

Collin County commissioners this week voted 4-1 to approve a $531.8 million budget and maintain current property tax rate of $0.149 cents per $100 of home value for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

Circuit Judge Chris Hill was the lone vote against the tax rate and budget. He said he didn't want to raise taxes. Even though the property tax rate stayed the same because the average home assessment went up, most Collin County homeowners will see their tax bills increase.

“I'm not going to raise taxes,” Hill said.

The median home in Collin County is $599,916 according to the county appraisal district. That's up 2.9% from last year, meaning the average homeowner in Collin County will likely see their tax bill increase because the taxable value on their home has increased. The average homeowner without a homestead exemption will see their county property tax bill increase by $23.07.

Historically, Collin County commissioners have lowered the tax rate to the no-new-income rate, which lowers the tax rate to keep property tax revenue the same as last year when home values ​​rise. But the court chose last year to maintain the tax rate. That increased the average tax bill for the average Collin County homeowner without a homestead exemption by about $85.

Hill was also the lone vote against last year's budget and tax rate.

Hill voted on individual items added to the budget proposal during budget workshops. But he said after looking at the total costs, he is against increasing the budget because of the impact on tax bills. He said the budget needed cuts.

But Commissioner Darrel Hale said the tax rate and budget passed for this year were necessary to fund essential services.

“Before any of us voted yes on any item, we were in for a tax increase this year,” Hale said. “We were already in the hole with respect to our current legal obligations.”

Collin County has experienced rapid population growth in recent years. The county, which has about 1.2 million residents, is the third fastest growing county in the country according to the US Census. And the population boom is causing growing pains for some county services.

Collin County voters approved a $683 million bond package last year which included funding to improve county roads, expand the jail and double the size of the animal shelter. But several elected officials told county commissioners during budget workshops that their departments need more, including Sheriff Jim Skinner.

Skinner said he needs more staff, especially at the county jail.

“We need more workers in the future to keep pace with the population explosion,” he said.

Skinner, who called for 70 new detention officers, said during his budget request to the court earlier this month that the jail is nearly full and understaffed. The county estimates it has already spent over $2 million on overtime pay this year, with a large portion of that spending occurring at the jail.

The county currently employs about 300 detention officers. But 28 of those detention officers are new hires who won't finish training until October. Skinner said those detention officers have 1,200 inmates to monitor. The county has another 83 inmates housed in facilities outside the county. The prison has a capacity for 1298 prisoners.

The jail is undergoing the expansion that was approved in last year's bond vote. Skinner said construction has increased security needs.

“When construction people knock a hole in the wall of our prison, we have to provide security for those people,” Skinner said. “When that security is in place, we have officers on it 24 hours a day because the one thing we won't do is risk an escape.”

The sheriff listed several other reasons for the increased overtime, including more uncooperative inmates. He said the number of criminals in prison has reached 92%, which has led to an increase in attacks on detention officers.

Skinner said the jail needs more detention officers to address understaffing and fully staff the facility once the expansion is complete.

The sheriff hired a total of 39 detention officers last year, with 83 new positions approved and 44 officers vacating their positions. That number prompted the court to approve 41 new detention officer positions for the next fiscal year's budget. Commissioners also approved a cap on overtime spending.

Commissioner Duncan Webb proposed the overtime limit. He said the policy is necessary to protect the county's budget.

“Once we hit the budget caps, with no additional funding available at that point, our only option would be to cut spending mid-year, which includes terminating people,” he said.

Commissioner Darrell Hale said during budget discussions that commissioners will need to keep an eye on jail staffing in the coming years as more people move into Collin County.

“The county is continuing to grow 35,000 to 50,000 a year and we're going to have to start planning for the next batch,” Hale said.

Do you have a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.

Caroline Love is one Report on Americacorpus member for KERA News.

KERA News is made possible through the generosity of our members. If you find this reporting valuable, consider it making a tax-deductible gifttoday. thank you