As Clay County Commissioners continue to work on finalizing a budget for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, Commissioner Jeff Gentry said the county is proposing not to raise property taxes.
The current property tax rate for Clay County is $2.60000 per $100 of assessed value. Gentry said a big reason an increase is not needed is because of the county’s department heads.
“They can keep their budgets within and not go over, and it helps keep us steady through,” Gentry said. “And we try not to, trust me, I don’t want to raise taxes as much as anybody. And it may come a time where we have to, but I don’t think we are there yet.”
Gentry said the budget does contain raises for county employees. Gentry said most of the raises are at a two to three percent clip, while some departments will have a higher raise to help retain employees.
“There is growth for the employees,” Gentry said. “It’s not ideal, but a small county like we are, we try to do what we can and we are trying to get everybody raised up in money and do the best we can for our people.”
Gentry said the budget is projecting to have some growth in revenue as more people are building in the county. However, like everyone else, Gentry said the county will have to deal with increasing costs to operate the county. Gentry said he does not have any concerns with the budget.
“I’ve looked at it several times,” Gentry said. “It’s a real good budget. Like I wish we would get some growth in the county, but like I said, I was kind of focused right now, just one year at a time, until we can get this jail in the process of breaking ground and stuff, and then maybe we can look forward from there.”
Gentry said the budget does not have any other major projects included besides allocating wheel tax funds to cover a loan payment should the county begin constructing a new jail this fiscal year. The county commission is on pace to finalize the budget in August.
