Once again Peters leads the charge...more taxes! Of course this follows the standard politician/bureacrat declaration of "we need to promote growth, for the increased revenue it will bring", followed by "we need to increase taxes, to respond to the increased growth".

"Brazos County Judge Duane Peters has been a strong advocate for raising the tax rate, arguing that the county cannot afford to continue funding its operations without increasing revenue."

We need more of your $$$

"...county cannot afford to continue funding its operations without increasing revenue."

But revenue is increasing.


From adopted budget for 2024.


"TAX BASE The 2022 freeze adjusted taxable value for Brazos County is $26.9 billion. This represents a total increase of 17.98% from the 2022 adjusted certified tax roll of $22.8 billion. 2023 land market value increased 9.7%, Improvements increased 23.8% over last year and Personal Property increased 10.4% as well. The mineral interest values have increased by 5.5% as compared to last year's increase of 50.9%. Exemptions have increase by 5.3% as compared to 9.7% in 2022. Freeze and Transfer Adjustment has increased by 25% over last year. The 2023 taxable valuation along with the rate are used in the tax assessment calculations which ultimately fund the FY 2024 budget. The average taxable home value adjusted for homestead exemption in Brazos County has increased 11.4% from $305,358 in 2022 tax year to $340,058"

https://www.brazoscountytx.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4635/FY-2024-Brazos-County-Adopted-Budget


I would think with our continuing increase in taxable property value, there is no need for an increase in the property tax rate any forseeable year.

My outgoing commissioner appeared to be the only rep contesting the proposed increase, as expected. From the results of the last election, my takeaway is that Pct 1 residents don't have a problem with throwing more tax money to the county.
Plus, they have jacked around so long with the federal money they have proposed spending on Mooney's namesake medical examiner's office that they run a risk of losing that.

you get what you vote for.

Doesn't the county have an insane amount of money stashed away in their rainy day fund? They're doing fine.

It's absurd that they still try to raise tax rates even with the substantial property value increases we've seen over the past few years. We should be getting rate relief when values go up.

I've heard enough over the years from this group now. These people are without a doubt a bunch of economic illiterates. They wouldn't know what a good budget is if it walked up and punched them in the face. The overwhelming majority of them can't even tell you what's in the budget. They don't even read it. We really need people to show up and vote and get these people out of office.

*Newsflash*

Ol' Duane don't care.
Bobby don't care.
Johnny don't care.

Pay up, you low-lifes!

Raise taxes for more bike lanes that are just about unused.

So annoying. The hunger for other people's money is bottomless even locally.

It's pretty rich to see those Commissioners who have their tax rate frozen (due to age) continually trying to raise the tax rate on those of us who still have a dynamic rate. An extra thousand or two a year shouldn't bother any of us right?

What about those of us who also own rental property? An extra 20-30k per year shouldn't bother us right?

In a time of record inflation and a tough economy on the brink of recession, our county brain trust has a solution.......raise taxes.

"I'm from the government and I'm here to help"

Can someone post emails?
I'm going to flood some inboxes...

tu ag said:

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Can someone post emails?
I'm going to flood some inboxes...

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Judge
dpeters@brazoscountytx.gov

Pct1
saldrich@brazoscountytx.gov

Pct2
ckonderla@brazoscountytx.gov

Pct3
nberry@brazoscountytx.gov

Pct4
wjwatson@brazoscountytx.gov

Thanks. Time to be direct.

MsDoubleD81 said:

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Didn't Berry and Aldrich get voted out? I may be thinking of something else.

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I believe they lost their primaries, they are still in office until the November election

Well, well, well. Brazos County taxpayers get ready to bend over. Your taxes are going up as many predicted during the last election. Aldrich and Berry forgoing their cost of living increases for the last three months of their terms is rich. Maybe that will save enough for one commissioner's auto allowance for a month. God bless Fred Brown and hope he maintains his anti-tax stance given the veracity of the tax and spend crowd that seems energized. Elections have consequences!

Reload84 said:

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Well, well, well. Brazos County taxpayers get ready to bend over. Your taxes are going up as many predicted during the last election. Aldrich and Berry forgoing their cost of living increases for the last three months of their terms is rich. Maybe that will save enough for one commissioner's auto allowance for a month. God bless Fred Brown and hope he maintains his anti-tax stance given the veracity of the tax and spend crowd that seems energized. Elections have consequences!

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The problem with local elections is they all talk a good game during campaigning. Everyone is the most conservative, low tax, low spending candidate.

Once they get elected, especially in between campaigns, is when the tax & spend cycle repeats over and over.

Voting out the economic liberals is helpful for sure but it is often difficult to tell who they are until they are already well into their term.

I believe they also voted a raise for themselves.

Two members declined the raise.

That led to some unbelievable, childish behavior from one of the free spenders.

BCSWguru said:

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you get what you vote for.

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That ain't what or who I voted for.

My favorite statement by the County Judge was that we have to make sure we have money left over to add to the surplus at the end of the year to pay for all of the capitol projects coming up. Something is very wrong here

the fact these are paid positions is a joke.

woodometer said:

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My favorite statement by the County Judge was that we have to make sure we have money left over to add to the surplus at the end of the year to pay for all of the capitol projects coming up. Something is very wrong here

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Capital projects = skywalks over Texas Ave to assert your dominance

When Covid hit, it was "we're all in this together"

Now, "We gotta get our hands on all the money"

I contacted those that "represent" me.
I encourage the rest of you to do the same.

Duane Peters needs to be voted out. Good gracious.

The "I'm here every day" and therefore he somehow deserves a raise is really inappropriate.

Emailed my commissioner my thoughts on a tax rate increase and asked him to vote NO!

tu ag said:

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Duane Peters needs to be voted out. Good gracious.

The "I'm here every day" and therefore he somehow deserves a raise is really inappropriate.

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Yeah, he CHOSE to run for office. He knew what he was getting in to. Just exhibit zz of him insulting taxpayer intelligence. A lot of us have to be at work every day, and often times well beyond normal hours for no additional compensation. Give me a break.

GSS said:

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Once again Peters leads the charge...more taxes! Of course this follows the standard politician/bureacrat declaration of "we need to promote growth, for the increased revenue it will bring", followed by "we need to increase taxes, to respond to the increased growth".

"Brazos County Judge Duane Peters has been a strong advocate for raising the tax rate, arguing that the county cannot afford to continue funding its operations without increasing revenue."

We need more of your $$$

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Peters is of an age that can have his property taxes frozen and I assume he did that a number of years ago.

I think that any county or city official that has their property taxes frozen, should recuse themselves from voting on any increase in taxes.

"heck, yes, let's raise them even more."

Just for a comparison, McLennan County (Waco area) just voted to lower taxes for the 9th consecutive year. It is also a high growth area.

https://www.kxxv.com/news/local-news/in-your-neighborhood/mclennan-county-commissioners-court-proposes-lowering-tax-rate-again-for-the-ninth-consecutive-year

You can do that in a strong shiplap economy.