County receives proposed tax rate, salary grievance letter from JPs

By Emily Banks Wooten
[email protected]

The Polk County Commissioners Court discussed fiscal year 2025 budget development and accepted the tax assessor-collector’s 2024 (fiscal year 2025) voter-approval tax rate calculation of 0.6092 per $100 valuation during a special called meeting Tuesday. A hearing on the proposed tax rate and the proposed budget is slated for 10 a.m. Aug. 27.

Although the Court was slated to consider approval to publish the proposed increases in salaries, allowances and other expenses of elected county and precinct officials, that item had to be tabled due to the receipt of a letter of grievance from the four justices of the peace regarding their proposed salaries.

The Court approved a nine-member salary grievance committee which will be made up of the sheriff, the tax assessor-collector, the district clerk, the county clerk, the treasurer, the district attorney and three members of the grand jury. Seven names were drawn from the grand jury to allow for a satisfactory number of alternates.

A hearing on the grievance is slated for 4 p.m. Monday in Courtroom D of the Polk County Judicial Center.

The Court approved road and bridge equipment lease/purchase through The Interlocal Purchasing Systems (TIPS), thereby satisfying competitive bidding requirements, pursuant to East Texas Mack Sales LLC quotations.

The following specifics were approved: the lease/purchase of eight new 2025 Mack granite cab and chassis with M drive dump ox body units at $172,059 each with a 13-month trade allowance of $157,059 each unit, assuming each trade-in unit meets all trade terms, to be paid from road and bridge capital leases fund; the trade/buyback of eight 2024 Mack GR64F trucks at $126,000 each for units currently leased by each road and bridge precinct, assuming each trade-in meets all trade terms; and a resolution authorizing execution of an agreement with Cadence Equipment Finance, a division of Cadence Bank, related to the estimated July 2024 lease/purchase of road and bridge equipment eight new 2025 Mack granite cab and chassis units equipped with ox body dump bed (to include trade-in of eight 2024 units) and authorizing the county judge to execute said agreements on behalf of the county.