Erath County Commissioners voted unanimously Monday, Sept. 22 to lower the tax rate effectively saving the average homeowner about $25 a year.
The court set the tax rate at the no new revenue rate of $.3811 per $100 valuation for Fiscal Year 2025, lower than the 2024 rate of $.3913 per $100 valuation. This is a decrease of -2.06%.
On an average home valued at $253,220, a homeowner will pay $965.03 a year in county property taxes.
Within the $.3811 tax rate, the county voted to keep the Road and Bridge fund the same designating $.0955, and $.2856 is designated to the General Fund.
Several items allowed the county to go down on the tax rate County Judge Brandon Huckabee explained during the meeting including property value growth, new construction, fee growth, more vehicle registrations and Hood and Parker County paying to house inmates.
“We are trying to be fiscally conservative for our citizens,” Huckabee said.
In the budget, the county is funding six new positions for the Erath County Sheriff’s Office including four deputies, one investigator and one jailer.
They also doubled the funding for volunteer fire departments, and gave cost of living raises to county employees with 5% in public safety positions.
In the Capital Fund, the county dedicated $3.5 million for current and future expansions with the Erath County Joint Dispatch set to open in July 2026 and a countywide emergency radio upgrade scheduled to be complete also in July 2026.
911 addressing was also moved in-house in order to save money and aid development services for new growth.
“I think this is a really good budget,” Huckabee said.
The court unanimously adopted the budgeted payroll, the 2025-26 budget, the 2025 tax rate and set the tax levy.
Due to recent changes from the state on when a commissioners court agenda must be posted (three business days before the meeting), the court discussed which days would work best for commissioners court.
With the new rules, the agenda must be posted Wednesday before commissioners court occurs at 9 a.m. the second and fourth Monday.
Chief of Staff Jocelyn Perez explained the timetable could remain the same as long as members of the court were OK with packet information being added to the agenda as she gets it throughout the week.
Otherwise, the court would need to go to weekly meetings.
Huckabee explained he felt at this point it could be a waste of time with only five or so agenda items on each meeting if they moved to weekly.
“It may be something we need to look at in the future,” he said.
The court unanimously approved to leave meetings unchanged to the second and fourth Mondays.
Two joint dispatch related items were also unanimously approved for IT services. A technology services agreement during the construction phase was approved with SLG Technologies at a cost of $550 a month.
Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Brooks explained that during the construction phase SLG would attend construction meetings and offer consulting to make sure IT was being correctly installed for the new facility.
Brooks explained though no contract had been in place, an SLG representative had been at every meeting so far.
“This seems more than fair to me,” Huckabee said.
A managed services contract for SLG was also approved for four years at a cost of $38,952 for the first year, $41,290 for year two, $43,768 for year three and $46,395 for year four.
The contract will allow for a neutral IT company to offer aid 24 hours a day/365 days a year instead of having either county or city of Stephenville utilize their own IT personnel.
“With the track record they have, this is a no brainer,” Huckabee said. “It’s a vital technology piece.”
A new job description was put in place to assign Subdivision Administrative Clerk Racheal Stevens to also become the GIS/911 addressing coordinator.
Approval was given for Precinct 1 to clear fence row and improve drainage on CR 263 and approval was also given to allow a business owner at their own expense to replace a culvert on CR 909.
Several items for land development were approved by the court.
A revised rural development plan for Fossil Wood Cabins located in Precinct 3 was approved as the project changed from an RV park to container homes.
“They had to revamp some things including septic system,” Subdivision Coordinator Jason Gardner said.
A revised plat in the Diamond Oaks subdivision Phase I was approved after some boundary lines were adjusted per family requests.
Variances were approved for Comanche Moon Phase III and IV for road material and road design width as it was configured to match the rest of the project.
In other business the county: ■ Approved an election services contract for the city of Stephenville for mayoral race
■ Approved election services contracts with Hico and Gordon ISDs
■ Approved a notice of special election and the days, hours, and polling places for early voting and election day voting
■ Received and filed a bond for Tax Assessor Collector, Valerie Stephens received and filed bonds for the election administration office
■ Received and filed judges professional liability insurance policy
■ Heard the Aug. 2025 treasurer’s report
■ Received and filed 2nd quarter investment report
■ Approved service agreements with the Southwest Solutions Group for mobile storage units in the county clerk’s office and the tax office at a cost of $1,090.60 and $1,333.07 per year