Wise County Commissioners unanimously approved a property tax rate of 27.5 cents per $100 of value and the FY25 budget Monday morning.

No member of the public spoke during public hearings on the budget, tax rate, or proposed levy for the Wise County branch of Weatherford College.

The court voted 5-0 to approve the county’s 27.5 cents per $100 property tax proposed two weeks ago. Judge J.D. Clark, County Commissioner Biff Hayes, County Commissioner Kevin Burns, County Commissioner Danny Lambert, County Commissioner Danny Lambert, County Commissioner Colby Shawn and County Commissioner Colby Shawn approved the proposal in a record vote.

Of the 27.5 cents, 22.75 is for the general fund and 4.75 is for the county roads and bridges fund. The current tax rate is 26.5 cents per $100 of value.

Although this is the first proposed tax rate increase for the county in over a decade, the new property tax rate is still below the county’s tax rate of 28.1 cents without new revenue and its voter approval rating of 29.7 cents.

The court also unanimously approved the fiscal year 2025 budget and the tax rate of 3.25 cents per $100 for maintenance of the Weatherford College branch in Wise County.

When the budget was originally proposed, Clark said setting the tax rate and budget was more challenging than in most other cycles because the county was simultaneously grappling with increasing service needs and a decline in overall taxable values.

Wise County’s taxable value is $12.3 billion in next year’s budget, compared to $12.5 billion in the current budget. This is despite adding $741 million in new construction to the county’s tax rolls and increasing the average home value to $256,939. The main reason for the drop in total taxable value was mineral values, which dropped about 50 percent from last year.

The new budget calls for $33.9 million in general fund revenue for the next fiscal year, an increase of $641,000.

The proposed budget for roads and bridges is $7.8 million, which will be split between the four districts (District 1: $1,981,700; District 2: $2,249,300; District 3: $1,765,000; District 4: $1,872,100). The fiscal year 2024 roads budget was $6.07 million when approved last year. In addition, the county is projecting $8 million in sales tax revenue, an increase from the $6.6 million in the current budget. The budget is balanced, with $47 million in revenue and $47 million in expenses.

Budget highlights

The Wise County budget calls for a 3 percent raise for each department, distributed at the discretion of department heads for employee raises. The budget also calls for separate raises for department heads and elected officials.

The county has a 5.4 percent increase in health care costs in the upcoming budget. Wise County participates in the Texas Association of Counties’ health and employee benefits pool, which Clark said has mitigated the impact of the premium increases.

The Wise County Sheriff’s Office will convert two deputies who previously served as school police officers in Boyd ISD to full-time deputies. The county chose to enter into an agreement with the Boyd Police Department for that service, driving the change. Wise County will continue to participate in the Senate Bill 22 grant, which supports funding for rural law enforcement. SB-22 funds pay raises for deputies and jailers. The grant would give the WCSO an additional $500,000 for pay raises, and the county would contribute $115,000 to maximize performance pay. The sheriff’s office would also hire a full-time open record clerk in the budget to handle an influx of open record requests. The clerk’s hourly pay would be $20. Clark said the budget also takes into account a request from WCSO to convert a part-time position at the Wise County Animal Shelter to a full-time position. The shelter would have a director and four full-time technicians, with some funding left over for part-time work.

The county is increasing police officers’ salaries from $55,000 to $61,000 next year.

Another new addition would be a $6,500 standby allowance for Wise County justices of the peace. Clark said the four counties would rotate on an on-call schedule because the officers have been assigned jail judge duties due to new legislation, adding more responsibilities that the position is not required to fulfill by law.

For Wise County EMS, the proposed budget calls for transferring the last two of six EMS positions originally funded with American Rescue Plan Act funds. The county has absorbed the positions over several budget cycles, and these will be the last two to be transferred to the county’s general fund. While the Alvord EMS station is moving forward, the budget does not yet call for full-time staffing for the station. Wise County EMS plans to staff the station with part-time employees once it is completed. Clark said additional staffing for the new station will be a priority in the fiscal year 2026 budget.

The budget increases base funding for Wise County fire departments by $66,200, bringing the county’s total contribution to the 17 fire departments to $1,251,200.

The budget also proposes to cover the costs of two capital murder trials in the next fiscal year. The two trials involve Tanner Horner, who was indicted by a Wise County grand jury in February 2023 for the capital murder of 7-year-old Athena Strand, and Robert Morairity Jr., who is accused of killing his wife and 11-year-old daughter. The costs could also include compensation for expert witnesses.

“We don’t know exactly what the cost will be, but we don’t want cost to get in the way of justice,” Clark said Monday.