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Bexar County commissioners on Tuesday voted to move forward with a $3 billion county budget funded by a property tax rate of just under 30 cents per one-hundred-dollar valuation.
The proposed tax rate and budget will be the subject of a public hearing on Sept. 9 at the county courthouse. The figures have remained the same, but the spending plan is not yet final. The next fiscal year for the county begins on Oct. 1.
The county has managed to hold property taxes steady for more than three decades with a combination of conservative spending practices and property tax revenue from booming new property growth.
With a slight decline in property values and a steady property tax rate, some county property taxpayers will see some savings over last year's tax bill.
But the bottom line on overall property tax savings comes down to the actions of other taxing entities, such as the property tax rates charged by the area's growing school districts. All are collected by the county tax assessor-collector.
While the county will earn less from existing property values, they will earn plenty more from the property tax revenue on new properties on the tax roll.
In other action as part of the ongoing budget process, commissioners adopted a citizen advisory committee recommendation to increase the annual pay of Bexar County Sheriff Javier Salazar by nearly $13,000 to $193,000. They recommended an annual pay bump of $6,000 for county constables to nearly $129,000.
The same committee recommended commissioners boost their own pay, that of other elected officials, and county employees with a 2% cost of living adjustment.
The committee studied peer averages and market benchmarks as part of their recommendations.
