Commissioners at an Aug. 25 meeting adopted a $598.7 million budget for fiscal year 2025-26, with County Judge Chris Hill and Commissioner Cheryl Williams voting against the total tax rate as well as maintenance and operations portion of the tax rate, and Hill also voting against the interest and sinking portion of the tax rate.
The gist
County commissioners voted to maintain the FY 2045-25 property tax rate of $0.149343 per $100 valuation. Adoption of the new rate marks the 33rd year without a tax rate increase in Collin County, according to a presentation at the meeting.
The tax rate includes two parts:
- The maintenance and operations rate, which is set at $0.107452 per $100 valuation
- The interest and sinking rate, which is set at $0.041891 per $100 valuation
The average taxable value of a home in Collin County is valued at $544,948, county documents state. That number is a 7% increase from the prior year’s average home value, and a property owner with a home valued at that amount would see a $51.51 increase in their annual property tax bill in FY 2025-26, the presentation states.
The county's annual budget approved included:
- $391.7 million in operating funds, including the general fund, road and bridge fund, and permanent improvement fund
- $114.6 million in the debt service fund
Part of the budget includes position changes in the sheriff’s office and jail, spurred by a reorganization of the department's staff, county officials said at the meeting.
The changes included adding 60 positions to the jail’s staff, including various detention officer positions. Over 20 positions were removed from the sheriff’s administration office, and seven deputy sheriff positions were added, according to the meeting presentation.
The new positions added cost roughly $4.5 million, while position reductions will save about $2.3 million. Other cost saving measures implemented include using commissary revenue to fund jail positions and ending free meals for employees. The changes come after commissioners identified that nearly $2.97 million was paid in overtime costs to jail employees in 2024, and more than $2.6 million had been paid in 2025 as of July 24, county documents state.
“As the 60 positions are getting added into the jail, I really truly believe that we’re gonna lick the overtime issue that we’ve had,” Commissioner Darrell Hale said.
Collin County Chief Deputy Matt Langan said messaging around staffing changes at the jail could have been communicated better, including that personnel that were temporarily assigned elsewhere, such as on the jail’s inmate programs staff, were being moved back to their allocated positions.
Community members that spoke at the meeting expressed concern for how the budget cuts will impact programming for inmates in the jail, including access to religious programs and programs like SCORE, a program intended to help convicted offenders with re-entry after being released. County Sheriff Jim Skinner said that while he is glad to get 60 new jail employees hired and trained, the staffing changes will impact operations of the jail.
“The jail will be a more dangerous place, given some of the decisions that we’ve had to make regarding the way we’re attacking overtime,” Skinner said. “It’s just important for everybody to know that.”
