A change in how registration fees in the county are allocated will result in helping children and families.
At the Monday, Aug. 24 Erath County Commissioners Court meeting, commissioners discussed and decided on optional fees assessed every time a person registers their vehicle.
Tax Assessor-Collector Valerie Stephen presented options to the court. For many years, the court has assessed an extra $10 designated for the county’s road and bridge fund. With about 45,000 vehicle registrations in the county, this equates to $450,000.
Another option fee that the county can adopt is a child safety fee ranging from $.50 to $1.50.
Though the county has never adopted this fee before, Stephen said it might be a good time to consider it. Cross Timbers Family Services Executive Director Laura Gambino spoke about what CTFS provides for the county including a legislatively mandated SART (Sexual Abuse Response Team), free counseling for victims of any kind of violent crime or abuse for all ages, a 24/7 hotline, protective order assistance, courtroom support for victims and a family violence taskforce, as well as serving as partners for law enforcement agencies throughout the county. The agency provides its services through grants and donations, without baseline funding from the county.
Gambino said any help would be appreciated since grants are not always stable from year to year.
Stephen explained that other nearby counties use the fee to aid nonprofits such as CASA.
The fee can be used for crossing guard programs, child safety, health or nutrition programs, child abuse prevention and intervention, drug and alcohol abuse prevention and public safety and security programs.
Though the commissioners all agreed that CTFS was a great asset to the county, they did not want to add an additional expense to the taxpayers.
“It’s against my morals to add any more taxes or fees,” Precinct 3 Commissioner Sherman Edwards said.
“I hate to impose more fees on the taxpayers. They’re a great organization though,” Precinct 2 Commissioner Albert Ray said.
“I want to help, believe me Laura,” Precinct 1 Commissioner Dee Stephens said.
U l t i m a t e l y , commissioners and County Judge Brandon Huckabee voted unanimously to lower the Road and Bridge fee to $9, and allocate $1 for child safety. Though part of the money must be spent on crosswalk safety, a portion will also be designated to Cross Timbers Family Services.
“Seeing the service provided by Cross Timbers Family Services, they are invaluable,” Huckabee said.
A public hearing was held on the proposed Fiscal Year 2026-27 budget, and no public comments were heard.
Further discussion on the budget and proposed tax rate was held with the county discussing to lower the tax rate to $.37 per $100 valuation, which would be an estimated property tax bill of $1,423.22 vs. $1,465.91 in 2025 (with a tax rate of $0.3811).
The county will also be splitting the cost of Christmas lights with the city of Stephenville for the courthouse. Each entity will pay $4,180.
In land development, approval was given on a variance request for lot width located in the Sims Creek Subdivision. According to Land Development Director Jason Gardner, an issue arose with a part of the land being cut out and never recorded. The variance was needed in order to stay in compliance with the county’s rules.
“There are no safety issues,” he said.
A replat with the property was done in a second motion, simply giving the home more land surrounding it.
“There is nothing to be added as far as houses or driveways,” Gardner said.
Approval was also given for Precinct 1 to purchase new furniture for the county barn.
Commissioners Stephens stated he was approached by a community member emptying an entire warehouse of furniture at a cost of $3,150.
“This is way, way cheaper than if we went out and purchased new furniture,” he said.
Stephens recused himself from the vote since his wife works for a portion of the company selling the furniture.
Parts of the furniture will be used in the new county barn, while others will go to the Unified Dispatch Center and the courthouse.
The court unanimously approved myriad rightof- way applications for NextLink’s fiber optic project.
They are establishing a redundant pathway underground.
Approval was given for CR 417, CR 406, CR 419, CR 403 and CR 518.
Commissioner Ray questioned how the line would be installed, where, and made sure a clause about damage and replacing trees was included in the contract since there are 100-year-old Post Oak trees alongside several of the roadways.
Ray also recommended they wait for cooler temperatures to start the project in order to not damage paved county roadways.
The county has officially abandoned CR 350 after a request was received by Prime Metal Buildings and Components. The request was made in order for Prime to connect their properties.
“This is part of the clean ups we continue to find,” Huckabee said.
Two additional items were approved for the Unified Dispatch Center including an agreement for Starlink and SLG.
Starlink will provide a redundancy internet and SLG will be used for an independent phone system.
A quitclaim deem was signed by the county on a 1-acre parcel of land given to the county in the 1891 for future school use. Nothing has ever been done with the land and it is in the middle of Triple S Dairy.
A payment agreement was approved by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Erath County Sheriff’s Office for the 287g program payment.
During public comments, Dublin residents Heather and Jay Anderson spoke against Flock cameras in Erath County stating they were a violation of the U.S. Constitution.
In other business the court: ■ Approved paying the bills for the month
■ Approved Line item transfers that have a net zero effect on the budget
■ Heard the presentation of the July treasurer’s report
■ Approved Departmental reports for July
■ Approved the service maintenance agreement renewal between the county clerk and Kirbo’s Office System