CORYELL COUNTY, Texas (KXXV) — A community petition is circulating this October, calling for Coryell County voters to have the final say on a proposed property tax rate increase.
“I’m encouraged that we have a group of our citizens that are engaged with the dealings of the county government, because that's who we work for at the end of the day. I think there's a difference between listening and actually hearing something. We want to hear their message,” County Judge Roger Miller said.
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Miller said he believes confusion about the numbers fueled concern.
“I think people were alarmed at the 21% increase rate, and I believe that there was a misperception that the 21% was going to be a 21% increase in their taxes, which was not the case,” Miller said.
After weeks of pushback, commissioners lowered the proposed rate from 21% to 8.6%. Still, Miller said the petition may not hold up under state law.
“I don't believe at this point that the petition is going to be valid under the statutes that they're trying to submit it, but we're fully going to follow the state statutes and the steps required to validate it, either accept it or reject it. And there is a process to do that,” Miller said.
That process allows 90 days to submit a petition from the date the tax rate was adopted. Once submitted, there are 20 days to validate the signatures before commissioners approve or deny it.
Miller said if the petition is not recognized as valid under Texas law, the county has limited options.
“It resonated with me this year. Our county government—specifically me—I have to do a better job of messaging,” Miller said.
"Because misinformation and inaccurate information, I believe, led to a lot of citizens getting very, very upset… passionately upset, and rightfully so. That might have been untempered if we had done a better job of messaging rather than just following the state's baseline of information that we need to put out,” Miller said.
