Fort Bend County Commissioners Court approved a $271.32 million budget for fiscal year 2014—about $21 million greater than last year.

The budget was adopted Sept. 10 and reflects more than $167,000 that was added to the budget Sept. 3 to provide for two staff positions; both were approved by a vote earlier in the meeting. Revenue from property taxes has increased by more than $12 million since last year.

A vote on the proposed $0.48476 property tax rate was scheduled to be taken when the budget was adopted, but was delayed because, though the county largely completed the process of setting and advertising the rate publicly according to law, one final advertisement was inadvertently omitted.

Commissioners adopted the tax rate Sept. 26, which reflects a 4.61 percent increase over last year. The total tax rate is comprised of $0.38076 for the general fund, $0.031 for the road and bridge fund, and $0.073 for the interest and sinking fund.