Lubbock County Judge addresses what a ‘non-revenue tax rate’ means for the county

LUBBOCK, Texas — At a press conference Thursday afternoon , Lubbock County Judge Curtis Parrish, along with County Sheriff Kelly Rowe, spoke about how stopping the proposed tax rate increase could negatively affect the county.

Two out of the five members from the commissioner’s court had been skipping recent meetings to stop the passing of a tax rate increase. According to state law, at least four of the five members of court must be present to pass a tax rate. One of the commissioners who had been skipping the meetings to prevent the rate increase was Jason Corley, who talked about what this protest meant to him.

“It’s government’s job to supply, you know to provide the necessary services that it’s supposed to, it’s not our job to grow it as much as possible on the backs of the taxpayer,” Corley said.

At the press conference, Judge Parrish brought Sheriff Rowe to highlight how no tax rate increase could affect the county.

“I have to have one officer on duty for every 48 inmates 24 hours a day, and when we’re suffering short it makes it much more difficult because now, we’re having demand extra duty from people. They’re getting less days off, and therefore they’re burning out faster on the job,” Rowe said.

Parrish mentioned that all members of the court have had meetings about the budget and tax rate throughout the summer.

“We didn’t always agree on everything, but we all work together and created a lien conservative budget that meets the needs of Lubbock County,” Parrish said.

“We’ve been pretty up front about this from the beginning of the budget process that our voter wants a lower tax rate and there’s been no secret about it. I sat on the Personnel committee, and I tried to turn down as many of the additional positions as I could knowing that we just can’t afford them,” Corley said.

If the tax rate increase does not pass, the county will go back to its non-revenue tax rate.

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