The Courier of Montgomery County hesitated at giving their okay to a $20 million 2027 budget for the Montgomery Central Appraisal District. This included, as well, a 3.5% merit raise.
Support for the district’s $20.01 million 2027 budget came from Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley. His motion to approve, however, did not get a second from other members of the court.
Including the county, municipalities, school districts and utility districts, the district is funded by around 237 taxing jurisdictions. Fifty-one percent of those jurisdictions is what the appraisal district needs to approve its budget for it to pass.
For 2027, Montgomery County’s assessment is at $3.7 million. Conroe ISD is the largest contributor to the district’s budget for 2027 at $5.1 million, while the county is the second largest.
Chief Appraiser Sherry Hunter told the court at Thursday’s meeting, “We did a comprehensive review over the past five years as far as expenditures were concerned.” She added, “We were able to reallocate funds in order to meet the needs of the district as well as our staff.”
Hunter said she was able to add 18 new positions, 14 of which were appraisers, by reallocating funds. She said by doing this there was only as 5.51% increase over 2026’s budget of $18.96 million.
County Judge Mark Keough said the budget for last year had more employees and technology. This included drones to aid in the appraisal of properties.
Keough said he thought they were at 4,100 homes not paying taxes. He said it was actually found to be 5,600 homes. He said, extra assets had been given the district, but “We have 5,600 homes not paying taxes, so my question is on what basis are we giving a merit raise?”
According to Hunter the drones showed that they were missing more homes than they had previously thought. She credited the staff with working to get thousands more homes on the tax rolls over the past couple of years.
Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Walker said being opposed to more staff is “handicapping” the district.
Keough said in asking for a 3.5 percent merit raise, “you are so far behind the game it is hard for me to justify.” He suggested they “fix it” and get a merit raise back in return.
By September 15th, the appraisal district must have a budget.
