A ruling on foregone revenue, by the state comptroller on August 1 gave DeWitt County Court the possibility of adding .06778 to the allowable tax rate before voter approval is required.
At the August 12 Commissioners Court meeting, County Tax Assessor/ Collector Ashley D.
Mraz shared the corrected 2024 tax rate calculation. Also at the meeting, the county attorney recommended repayment of money seized after a 2022 cyber attack.
In addition, the memo explaining the out-ofcounty accident that totaled Constable Kelly Phelp’s vehicle as well as the insurance settlement were received.
Mraz had not included the foregone revenue rate in her July breakdown of revenue because clarification was needed from the comptroller on how the calculation should be implemented.
Given the new information, County Daryl Judge Fowler shared charts with three possibilities for tax rates: One lowering it to ,33026/$100 value, one at the same rate of ,36601/$100 rate, and one raising to ,41081/$100 value.
Previously, counties had an unused pennies or an incremental rate that could go to reserve funds. The calculation of this rate changed with the tax law passed by the 2023 state legislature.
According to Judge Fowler, the previous incremental calculation helped counties in- sure against tax volatility with market fluctuations. Some oilrich counties have seen extreme fluctuations in tax rates +/- .25 per $100 with the boom/ bust cycles.
DeWitt County has been able to maintain consistent rates by using reserve funds when the adopted tax rate is lower than the state mandated “no new revenue” rate, Fowler said.
The judge told the court that without the incremental rate savings, this year $3.7 million will be abated back to the oil and gas industry “at the same time they’re driving our roads.”
“I’ve never been a tax hiker, and I don’t want to go out as one,” he said. But Fowler clearly disagreed with the legislature amending the unused incremental rate and tried to explain what was being lost in the process.
Fowler said as a member of Gov. Abbott’s committee on taxes, he shared with policy makers the challenges that mineral-rich counties face in long term budgeting.
“My suggestions were ignored,” he said. “But I can’t dwell on it for my blood pressure’s sake.”
After the judge’s explanations, Commissioner Kaiser motioned to keep the proposed rate of .36601, and it was unanimously passed.
Also at the meeting, the court approved the processing of an insurance settlement offer of $17,054 on the 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe that was in an accident while driven by Constable Kelly Phelps. The court also received a DPS accident report and a memo from Constable Phelps regarding the June 12 accident in Colorado County.
In the memo, the constable stated that after two days of training in Katy, he assisted in traffic control on IH-10 in Columbus. His vehicle, which had its energy lights activated, was hit from behind by an 18-wheeler. He described the equipment he removed from the damaged vehicle on June 14 as small tools only, nothing mounted such as electronics.
The question was raised using county vehicles.
On another item, County Attorney Jay Condie notified the court of his findings in a claim by Gemini Trust Company LLC regarding the return of $305,301.75 seized from Gemini's omnibus JPMorgan Chase Bank Account on January 27, 2023.
This was the money at issue in the cyber attack on DeWitt County in 2022.
Condie said the seizure of return funds from the JPMorgan account took place several months after the crime, so the actual money from DeWitt County was no longer in the account used. He also said there was no evidence of a due process notice from the District Attorney, notifying Gemini Trust of the subpoena and seizure.
Because of these issues and no funding from the TAC insurance for a possible court case, Condie recommended paying the money back. He said TAC will pay $250,000 on the original theft claim.
Commissioners approved the payment of $305,301.75 to Gemini Trust.
Other business covered at court were the scheduling of public hearings on the annual written archive plan for funding the preservation and restoration of the county clerk's records archive and the placing No Thru Truck Traffic road sign on Old San Antonio Road in Commissioner Precinct No. 1. Both public hearings are scheduled for Monday, Aug. 26 at 9 a.m.
The court also approved project agreements with the TDCJ for prison labor at the DeWitt County Historical Museum as well as several other detention and residential service agreements with county juvenile boards.
Commissioners also conducted a road maintenance workshop.
The next Commissioners Court meeting will be Monday, Aug. 26 at 9 a.m.
