Homestead Tax Relief passes, Road and Bridge question fails
Photo by Shari Harris
From left, Trish Knight, Linda Roberts and Brenda Bartleson were the election judges at the Licking polling location on Election Day.
A Special Election was held on Tuesday, November 4, in Texas County. Two items were on the ballot.
The first item was the Texas County Road and Bridge Question. With a total of 2,711 votes cast, 838 (30.91%) voted yes and 1,873 (69.09%) voted no.
The question was, “Shall the County of Texas replace the expiring county-wide one-half of one percent (1/2 of 1%) Capital Improvements sales tax, with a county-wide one-half of one percent (1/2 of 1%) tax on retail sales, including utilities, for the purpose of maintaining and improving roads, culverts, and bridges.”
The second item on the ballot was the Texas County Homestead Tax Relief. With a total of 2,712 votes, 2,330 (85.91%) voted yes and 382 (14.09%) voted no.
This item asked, “Shall the County of Texas exempt citizens from increases in the property tax liability due on such citizens primary residence?”
A summary of the Road and Bridge question explained it as follows: “In 2005, Texas County voters approved a Capital Improvements sales tax which financed the construction of the Justice Center, which is set to expire at the end of March 2026. If the proposed replacement Road and Bridge sales tax is approved by the voters, these funds will be distributed to each of the various Townships, providing more permanent solutions than their current budgets allow, for the repair/replacement of deteriorating transportation infrastructure throughout Texas County. Annually, it is estimated that this would generate approximately $1 million dollars. Additionally, the funds will also be used to access/leverage matching grants for infrastructure replacement, which are currently inaccessible to Townships directly/individually.”
Out of 17,083 registered voters in Texas County, 2,723 cast a ballot on Election Day, which was 15.94%. Election judge Linda Roberts reported approximately 400 voted in the Licking precinct.
