Gregg County leaders discuss tax law and revenue at the State of the County

LONGVIEW — Gregg County officials and business leaders met in Longview to discuss the current state of the County, according to our news partner KETK. Senate Bill 2 was the main focus, saying the bill, also known as the Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019, is having a major impact on county finances. “It probably works fine in the bigger metropolitan areas of millions of people, but in small communities, we just don’t have that tax base to be able to take that kind of hit,” said Bill Stoudt, Gregg County Judge. Under this law, cities are only allowed to bring in between 2.5% and 3.5% of tax property revenue. “It’s just the old formality, you can’t continue to push costs down to the county level without additional revenue,” said Judge Stoudt. If they need extra, the county would have to explain to the community why more money is needed and hold an election. Judge Stoudt said they have seen their revenue reduced. Meaning, that as expenses like fuel go up, there’s less money available to pay for goods and critical services.

Cities like Kilgore are also dealing with inflation, at a time when recruiting new employees has become a challenge. “We are seeing the need instead to bump certain salaries substantially to try and keep up with the market and to be able to compete,” said Josh Selleck, Kilgore City Manager. With less money available to bump up salaries it leads to job cuts.Though cities have had a few years to adjust their budgets, inflation is now making it much more difficult.