County approves budget/tax rate
WAXAHACHIE – Ellis County Commissioners, along with Judge Todd Little, approved the county’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget on September 10 in the amount of $210 million.
Little said, “We squeezed the blood out of the turnip and I don’t know what other options to cut, do we cut law enforcement, jail personnel, indigent defense, administrations, elections, road and bridge at 900 miles.”
Little said during the Commissioner’s Court meeting, “Demand and inflation have impacted our budget greatly this year, we have the eighth fastest growing county in the United States, we are working with and that puts a demand on services, a demand on roads and bridge necessity, a demand on law enforcement officials and this budget does include salary increases of which $300,000 only is pertaining to elected officials and $2.7 million involves law enforcement personnel.”
Overall the salary increases in the 2025 fiscal year budget amounted to $7 million.
Little said this was a “big step and the county decided over the last two years to enter into that regional salary classification study.
“I know there have been questions about the vendor that was hired” but he explained there is a state purchasing code that the county must abide by and if a vendor has the best proposal and familiar with the region, that company won the bid.
A strong goal for Little for the new fiscal year is to create a long-term juvenile facility “that will allow the county over the 72 hours” before transporting juveniles and will require “another five to 10 detention officers,” he said.
“Now we can discontinue sending up to $4,000 and transporting juveniles every 15 days back to Ellis County to meet their juvenile judge at their hearing.”
Other priorities for the Fiscal Year 2025 budget other than law enforcement remuneration, and judicial system enhancements, included construction projects of the 2050 Strategic Facilities plan.
Little explained for every dollar of new tax revenue, the 2025 budget allocation was 38 cents for public safety and law enforcement; 16 cents for operations; 14 cents for public services; 12 cents for public infrastructure; 9 cents for facilities & capital improvements; 7 cents for judicial functions; and 4 cents for debt service.
In a media release from Little’s office it stated, “One of the major reasons that Ellis County is able to pursue facility improvement projects yet keep tax collection for capital improvements to a minimum, is because of the efficient use of cash reserves in lieu of bond debt.
"In Fiscal Year 2025, existing cash (primarily the Permanent Improvement Fund) is substantial enough to cover the remodeling of the existing Courts & Administration Building for a Central Jury Pool and an additional district courtroom, as well as to finalize construction of the new Ellis County Central Building and Precinct 2 Sub-Courthouse.
“Additionally, the Fiscal Year 2025 budget allocates existing funds to begin construction of a much-needed Elections & Records building at the County Farm site.”
The Fiscal Year 2025 budget covers $9.1 million of state unfunded mandates, including state jail prisoners, indigent defense, and the cost of inmate medical healthcare services.
The budget process for the 2025 Fiscal Year budget began in mid-April.
A new tax rate was adopted at the September 10 meeting with Little explaining the county adopted a tax rate of .273992, the increase according to Little at 00.14%, which will collect another $480,000.
“We received our property insurance quote and it went up over $400,000. “We had the budget already set so we had to raise it so we could pay the difference and pay our property tax.
“Otherwise, if I didn’t do that, I would have had to find $480,000 from somewhere else to pay my property insurance rate and I already had the budget set.”
The county could collect up to .2954 without holding an election.
“We had to collect this amount of the new tax rate to balance our budget,” Little emphasized.
“The growth rate in Ellis County was 6.8% last year and we had to collect this higher tax rate so we did not have to cut services.”
There had been opposition to the tax rate increase at the meeting, but the commissioners passed the tax rate and new budget after comments.
Public comments had one speaker stating, “People are having a hard time trusting the government.”
With the tax increase, property owners in Ellis County are now forced to increase rent payments, putting a burden on both the property owner and the renter living in Ellis County.