The Commissioners Court held a 40-minute public hearing Tuesday on the budget which also led to discussion of the proposed tax rate for next fiscal year. Afterwards, during their regular court session the Commissioners unanimously approved a $59,415,095 budget.
An important facet of the budget was the Court reduced the tax rate from the proposed 54.4 to 54.2 cents per 100 dollars value. This is the first reduction in the county tax rate in over four years. The fund balance that has been built up by the Commissioners Court with serious budget cuts over the last three years added $14.8 million to expected revenues of approximately $44.6 million to give the county a balanced budget for next year.
Orange County will have a vote on the possible creation of a hospital district here. County Judge Brint Carlton’s office received a petition with over 150 signatures last week. The petition was given to Elections Administrator Tina Barrow to verify signatures and validate the petition. Barrow informed the Commissioners Court Tuesday that 149 valid signatures were on the petition. State law requires only 100 valid signatures on a petition for the Commissioners Court to call an election concerning the creation of a hospital district in the county.
The Commissioners have called for a public hearing on October 3 at 1:00 PM to discuss the petition and to set the actual date for the election which would determine if a hospital district would be created in Orange County. If created, the hospital district would be countywide and would serve as a separate taxing entity like the Port District and the Drainage District.
The petition stipulated that the initial tax rate would be a maximum of 18 cents. Also itemized in the petition was there would be five temporary members appointed by the Commissioners Court to the board. Later they would be on a rotating basis of two-year terms to be elected by the citizens.
Claiborne West Park could be closed for probably another two to three months. Damage at the park from Harvey is still being assessed. To protect the general public and for obvious safety reasons Claiborne West has been closed. A security six-foot fence will be erected over the entrance to prevent the public from going into the park while it is closed.
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