Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
The Jefferson County Commission last week adopted a budget of $43 million and a millage rate that represents a slight tax increase.
The final public hearing on the budget and millage rate on Tuesday evening, Sept. 27, was in keeping with the hearing’s originally advertised time and date, but not so the first hearing, which occurred a week earlier than advertised.
Regardless, the final hearing on the budget and millage rate for fiscal year 2022-23 proceeded without a hitch and with zero public participation.
In short order and almost perfunctorily, the board unanimously approved two resolutions that formally enacted the two measures.
The first resolution, No. 2022-092722-01, set the millage rate at 7.9500 mills, which represents a 5.9 percent increase over the rollback rate of 7.5073 mills.
The rollback rate is calculated to take into account fluctuations in property values and produce the same revenues as the prior year. The state requires that any taxing entity that does not adopt the rollback rate must advertise a tax increase.
The second resolution, No. 2022-092722-02, set the budget at $43,727,062. The entire proceeding barely lasted 13 minutes.
The confusion over the date and time of the first of the two required hearings on the budget and millage rate arose because confusion between the newspaper notice, as authorized by the Clerk of Court’s office, and the TRIM notice mailed by the Property Appraiser’s office.
Per the advertisement placed in the paper by the clerk’s office, the first hearing on the budget and millage rate was set for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22.
However, during a commission workshop on the Land Development Code on Thursday, Sept. 15, County Attorney Heather Encinosa informed the board that it needed to pause the workshop discussion to hold the first scheduled budget hearing, as advertised.
At which point a minor confusion ensue, with Reams noting that the hearing had consistently been advertised for 5:30 p.m. on the 22nd and 27th of September and Encinosa pointing that out the TRIM notice advertised it for 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 15.
“All our stuff, going back to when we first started the budget process, that’s the dates that we’ve given,” Reams said, referencing the 22nd and 27th.
Encinosa, however, insisted differently.
“I don’t think doing it next week will meet the statutory requirement because you have to do it between 65 and 80 days of the certification of value,” she said, calling for a recess to address the issue.
When the board reconvened some 20 minutes later, it proceeded with the tentative budget and millage rate hearing.