Erath County Commissioners Court cast the first ‘no’ vote on the appraisal district purchasing a new building and the building purchase is now not moving forward per the appraisal district.
The $3.2 million building purchase must be approved by 75% of the 18 taxing entities in the county in order to move forward, County Judge Brandon Huckabee explained at the Monday, June 22 commissioners court meeting.
The cost of the building must be split by percentage through the taxing entities throughout the county.
According to Erath County Chief Appraiser Jonathan Pringle in a phone interview, the district is looking for a new building due to the growth taking place in the county.
“More growth means more work, and more people are needed to appraise. However, we’re not going to move forward on that building at this time,” Pringle said.
As of press deadline the county, city of Dublin and Stephenville ISD have all voted to disapprove the appraisal district’s proposed purchase/acquisition of property.
The appraisal district was seeking to purchase the former BMY building located on the Senator Robert J. Glasgow Loop in order to have more room to operate and room for future expansion.
In preliminary estimates, the percentage amount that the county iwould have been responsible for is 30.90%, which equates to an estimated increase of $83,252.32 for Fiscal Year 2027.
“It’s my opinion there are other options that can be looked at and explored,” Huckabee said. “It would take all of our no newrevenue.”
Precinct 2 commissioner Albert Ray expressed that he thought there were other options, though he knew they needed room.
“I don’t think the timing is right,” he said.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Sherman Edwards stated the building was overkill on space, and believed there were more options out there.
“I’m against it,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Buck said. “We need to look at expansion.”
Judge Huckabee said with the legislation attempting to look at how property values are calculated during the next session.
“Before we add a bunch of space we need to see how this will turn out,” he said.
The county, the city and Stephenville ISD also all voted against the appraisal district’s budget which included the cost of the building. According to Pringle the district will resubmit their budget within 30 days without the purchase of a building.
The county also began discussions on implementing a driveway permit.
Land Development Director Jason Gardner explained the county was considering implementing a driveway permit process for safety issues regarding blind corners and hills.
“People are moving into houses or property and just installing driveways where ever they want,” he said.
The approval process would go through the land development office and the commissioner whose precinct the project falls into.
Commissioner Edwards suggested a GPS pin be dropped to aid 911 mapping in regards to driveway.
“I think this is a great idea but where is our ability to enforce it,” Ray said.
County Attorney Bethany Espinosa stated the county does have the ability to regulate placement when it is connected to a county road, and could assess fines.
The cost of the permit was under discussion and Huckabee stated the permit needed to cover the county’s work in order to not make taxpayers subside private work being done.
Commissioners were all instructed to get notes back to Gardner in order to move forward with the permitting process and Espinosa was requested to provide enforcement language.
In other business the court: ■ Approved annual copying contracts with Kirbo’s
■ Approved a fee schedule for the GIS/Addressing department for printing large maps