The Travis County Commissioners Court voted to adopt the 2013 property tax rate during its Sept. 25 meeting.
Property tax rates are made up of two parts: the maintenance and operations rate (M&O) and the interest and sinking rate (I&S), which deals with debt service. Those two rates add up to the total tax rate.
The court approved the M&O rate by a 4-1 vote. Commissioner Sarah Eckhardt opposed, stating that the county has not balanced its tax burden against its services, and it was paying some employees above market value.
The court passed the I&S tax rate unanimously.
The county raised the total tax rate roughly 3 percent, from 48.55 cents to 50.01 cents per $100 of valuation.
Leslie Browder, Travis County Planning and Budget Department executive, said the new tax rate would mean an annual increase of about $25 to the average taxpayer, who owns a property valued at about $215,000.
The court passed the total tax rate 4-1, with Eckhardt opposing.
Browder said the county's financial position was sound and that the county maintained a AAA bond rating.
The court approved the 2013 budget 4-1, with Eckhardt opposing.
"Again, I stand by our budget process and I'm in 100 percent solidarity with the intentions of my colleagues in our collective belief about using our collective wealth for the common good," she said. "I'm going to vote against this budget, not because of the increases in services, but because I believe if we pay more for services than we need to, we have less to spend on increasing our capacity to serve."
The general fund, the main operating budget of the county, is $588 million. The total budget is $814 million.