Smith County Commissioners discuss tax rate, work toward finalizing fiscal year 2026 budget

Published 5:40 am Wednesday, August 6, 2025

The Smith County Commissioners Court is set to consider and discuss the fiscal year 2026 budget during a special-called meeting later this week.

The commissioners will meet at 10 a.m. Friday in the commissioners courtroom of the courthouse annex, located at 200 E. Ferguson, Suite 100 in downtown Tyler. The meeting is open to the public.

Budget workshops and discussions have been held in recent weeks with  more to come as the court prepares to approve a budget for the coming fiscal year.

At Tuesday’s regular meeting, the court discussed the proposed tax rate and scheduled public hearings.

Commissioners took a record vote to set the proposed tax rate, unanimously voting to keep it the same as last year, which is 0.364231 cents. The public hearings on the proposed tax rate are set for 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

“I don’t want to increase that tax rate. We have a lot of residents in the same fix as our employees,” County Judge Neal Franklin said, referring to higher cost of living prices on groceries, etc.

County departments have been working to cut costs, officials said, but Franklin said he still wants a 3% cost-of-living raise for county employees. He said the budget’s main focuses include employee raises, rising health insurance costs, higher jail medical and food expenses, increased insurance rates from the Texas Association of Counties, and state-mandated salary hikes for county court-at-law and district judges.

“We’ve had a lot of requests this year for full-time employees and new vehicles and equipment,” he said. “But we have several things we must do.”

Public feedback

As officials work to finalize the budget, concerns about transparency and decision-making have sparked pushback from some in the community, including Precinct 4 Constable Josh Joplin and local watchdog group Grassroots America. 

Joplin has expressed frustration with how funds are allocated and said he feels there’s been a lack of clarity in the budget process.

Joplin had hoped to secure funding for new vehicles and salary increases for his department, aiming to address pay disparities with other county agencies. However, he said their requests were met with insufficient follow-up and little transparency from the county’s budget officer.

“They have had our budget requests since April,” Joplin said. “We were given one meeting in May without the commissioners present and one in June with the commissioners present. Then the budget officer was in charge from there.”

Joplin said his department has a critical need for new vehicles, arguing that spending $20,000 to repair two cars nearing 200,000 miles is a poor business decision. He pointed out that after investing nearly $85,000 in these vehicles, they would still only be worth around $7,000 on resale, making it an inefficient use of taxpayer funds.

“They purposely waited until this late in July to not be able to give us another opportunity to present our budget concerns,” Joplin wrote in his post, alleging the lack of communication is a “smoke and mirrors” tactic to avoid transparency.

Meanwhile, Grassroots America has condemned the budget process, with Executive Director JoAnn Fleming calling it “shockingly unprofessional.” She criticized county leaders for failing to establish clear budget boundaries or engage in meaningful public discussions.

“The commissioners should demand better,” Fleming said in a press release. “The taxpayers, department heads, and county employees deserve better. The buck stops with the elected commissioners court – not a hired budget officer.” It is important to note that the court does have ultimate approval of the budget.

Fleming criticized the county’s work on road bond projects, saying they remain incomplete, over budget, and unresolved despite voter approval in 2019 and 2021. She pointed out that the commissioners court has not publicly addressed or voted on how to fulfill the promises made to voters regarding road improvements. 

Fleming also emphasized the need for an independent review of county roads: “The last study was completed 10 years ago,” she said. “There is a huge cost for this failure – deteriorating roads and deteriorating public trust.”

Tom Fabry, Government Watchdog Chair with Grassroots America, also expressed disappointment with the current leadership’s approach to transparency. 

“The enormous amount of goodwill built by former County Judge Nathaniel Moran (now U.S. Congressman Moran) has been squandered,” Fabry said. “His legacy of transparency, due diligence, thoroughness, and purposeful community dialogue has been completely abandoned.”

Judge responds 

Judge Franklin explained that he is now prohibited from serving as the budget officer due to the county’s growing population. Under Texas Local Government Code Section 111.032, another individual besides the judge must fill the role in counties with populations over 225,000. 

“This duty can either stay with the county auditor or a county may choose to hire a budget officer, which is the case for us,” he said.

Franklin said this year’s budget process differed from previous years, explaining that, for the first time, all department leaders and elected officials were required to submit their budget requests for transparency. 

“That is exactly what we did,” he said. “We presented the requests and then presented what we knew were the items that we had to place in the budget due to increases in costs.”

Franklin pointed to rising expenses in areas like health insurance, jail medical, and food costs. Additionally, the county included a 3% cost-of-living allowance for its 900-plus employees, though he noted that after addressing these increases, the budget remains tight, particularly with state mandates like judicial salary supplements.

“We must always be ready for a surprise, like a late change to our certified values from the Appraisal District like we did this year,” Franklin added.

‘Not set in stone’

As Smith County works toward finalizing its budget, the projected revenue stands at $113.59 million, while expenses are expected to reach $120.8 million, leaving a deficit of $6.49 million. This shortfall will be covered by the county’s fund balance, which will also absorb rising costs, including $6 million allocated for health insurance. Proposed budget changes include the addition of 11 new full-time positions across various departments and pay raises for constables and justices of the peace. However, vehicle purchases, aside from those for Road and Bridge, are not currently included in the budget.

“This is not at all set in stone. It’s still fluid, it can still move,” said Kari Perkins, the county’s budget officer. “We still have revenues that are changing. I don’t know what it’s going to be tomorrow. So, by all means, there’s open lines of communication. There’s nothing set in stone. The court has the ultimate approval of the budget.”

Budget calendar

The court met Tuesday to discuss the tax rate and schedule a public hearing for Sept. 2. By Thursday, the county will publish the Notice of Proposed Tax Rates on its website. On Aug. 15, the budget officer will notify elected officials about salary and personal expenses for the proposed budget. A budget workshop is set for Aug. 19, followed by the publication of the notice for the public hearing on the proposed budget and elected officials’ salaries.

Notices will be posted on Aug. 26 for the public hearing and meeting to adopt the budget and tax rate. Public hearings on the tax rate will be held on Sept. 2 at 9:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. The court will vote on the budget, tax rates, and salary scales on Sept. 9. To view the full budget calendar, visit the county’s website.

“There is always a chance that we will have to amend our budget up to the day of formal adoption,” Franklin said. “Our goal as a county and a court is always to be transparent and to provide the best service to our citizens at the best price.”

To watch any of the Commissioners Court meetings, including budget workshops, visit: www.smith-county.com/i-want-to/search/commissioners-court-records or www.facebook.com/SmithCountyTexas.

To view the agenda for Friday’s special-called meeting, visit: www.smith-county.com/i-want-to/view/commissioners-court-agendas.