Howard County Quorum Court Meets

Millage rates on taxes to be collected next year in Howard County were set Monday during the regular November meeting of the Howard County Quorum Court. The tax rates will remain unchanged at 3.6 mills for county general, two mills for county road & a single mill remains for the county’s library system.
Over eight million dollars in real and personal property taxes has been collected this year in Howard county as of the beginning of this month with approximately 500 thousand dollars remaining delinquent.
Howard County is pursing a 50 thousand dollar state grant to purchase a scanner. County Clerk Keri Teague said the scanner would be used to convert existing records from paper to digital form. If the county isn’t successful in securing the funding, a couple offices in the courthouse would look at using their equipment funds for the purchase.
County Judge Kevin Smith gave an update on flood repairs. One bridge, located on Jamison Road, remains open to one lane traffic. However, bids have been received on the project and repairs are expected to begin sometime after Thanksgiving.
Also Monday, a budget committee, consisting of J.P.’s Dick Wakefield, Janice Huffman & Brent Pinkerton, was appointed. Work on the 2020 county budget will likely begin sometime next month.