At the September 19 meeting of the Brown County Commissioners Court approval was given to the new County budget for the 2022-23 fiscal year.  The new budget begins on October 1, 2022.

The total budget is $31,212,556.  An accompanying letter signed by County Judge Paul Lilly, County Clerk Sharon Ferguson, and County Auditor Jennifer Robison states “Approximately 75% of the receipts will be realized through a proposed ad valorem tax of .48495 cents per $100 of assessed valuation.  The remainder of the receipts will come from other local sources, fund balances, and state payments.”

The ad valorem rate of .48495 cents is a decrease from last year’s rate of .5542 cents.  Another accompanying document states “The proposed budget will raise more revenue from property taxes than last year’s budget by an amount of $1,162,666, which is a 6.30 percent increase from last year’s budget.  The property tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax roll this year is $308,810.”

The budget total of $31,212,556 is actually a decrease from last year’s budget of $32,705,980.  The difference, however, can be accounted for by the COVID-19 funds provided by the American Rescue Plan Act of the Federal government.  Last year’s budget included $7,398,097 for COVID-19 relief; the new budget includes $5,468,658 available for COVID-19 relief.  If you filter out the COVID funds from each budget, the new budget net total would be $25,743,898, an increase of 1.72% over last year’s budget.

Listed below are expense totals for various County departments in the new 2022/23 budget.  For more detail the entire budget can be found at the County website: browncountytx.org, and click on Financial Transparency.

Commissioners Court Expense and Administrative Assistance – $322,401

County Clerk Office – $484,085

Veteran’s Service Office – $140,134

Information Technology Department – $422,978

County Court – $339,307

County Court at Law – $547,353

District Court – $1,090,699

District Clerk Office – $480,489

Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 – $175,372

Justice of the Peace Precinct 2 – $126,403

Justice of the Peace Precinct 3 – $130,867

Justice of the Peace Precinct 4 – $130,617

District Court Reporter – $123,353

Indigent Defense Coordinator – $150,055

District Attorney Office – $683,838

County Attorney Office – $480,497

Elections Administration Office – $218,259

Election Costs – $34,348

County Auditor Office – $340,114

County Treasurer Office – $266,458

County Appraisal District – $502,768

Tax Assessor/Collector Office – 411,233

County Jail Expense – $3,314,459

Constable Precinct 1 – $79,266

Constable Precinct 2 – $81,266

Constable Precinct 3 – $81,266

Constable Precinct 4 – $96,402

Sheriff’s Department – $3,367,649

Juvenile Probation Office – $142,500

Emergency Coordinator – $84,745

Health Expenses – $753,341

County Services – $346,956

County Surveyor – $18,022

Agriculture Extension Office – $247,526