Caldwell County administrative offices located at the downtown courthouse will close at noon on Friday, September 12 to mitigate construction-related parking issues ahead of Diez y Seis events scheduled to begin in the evening.
The closure does not affect the DPS office, which will remain open during its normal business hours.
The Caldwell County Commissioners Court will hold a public hearing to vote on the 2025 tax rate on September 23, 2025.
View the Notice of Public Hearing to Vote on the 2025 Tax Rate.
UPDATE: The system outage has ended and the offices will open as scheduled today.
Both county tax offices are currently closed due to technical difficulties that are causing a system outage. Stay tuned for updates.
Caldwell County Commissioners on Tuesday, September 9 adopted the 2025-2026 budget and proposed a 2025 tax rate in addition to discussing the burn ban, the County Appraisal District budget, and approving a pair of proclamations.
(Pictured l-r: Pct. 1 Commissioner B.J. Westmoreland, Pct. 2 Commissioner Rusty Horne, County Judge Hoppy Haden, Pct. 3 Commissioner Ed Theriot, Pct. 4 Commissioner Dyral Thomas)
Commissioners adopt budget, propose tax rate
Caldwell County Commissioners adopted the FY 2025-2026 county budget and proposed a 2025 tax rate, optimizing available funds and grant programs, keeping expenses under revenues and continuing to provide necessary services for county residents.
The annual operating budget covers the cost of maintaining and improving more than 436 miles of roads, emergency management services, 9-1-1 emergency communications, public safety and law enforcement, elections, permitting and planning, pursuit of grants and numerous additional programs and benefits.
Commissioners approved a budget that includes $36,993,916.34 in planned general fund expenses for the period beginning Oct. 1, 2025 and ending Sept. 30, 2026 at their regular meeting on Sept. 9 and proposed a tax rate of $0.4391 per $100 property valuation.
Based on the average homestead taxable value of $262,425, the proposed tax rate will remain the same. The rate represents neither an increase nor decrease compared to the prior year.
A public hearing on the proposed tax rate will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
- Voted to keep the burn ban on.
-
Approved a proclamation designating September 22-26 as Falls Prevention Week.
-
Approved a proclamation designating September 2025 as Senior Center Awareness Month.
-
Approved a resolution designating Election Day voting locations and hours for the November election.
-
Denied a resolution proposing amendments to the 2024 and 2025 Appraisal District Budgets and denied their 2026 budget. The appraisal district had proposed transferring $229,693 in excess funds to its 2025 legal services line item for future expansion of the district’s building fund and its emergency reserve fund. The excess funds would be normally returned to the taxing entities, which includes Caldwell County and multiple municipalities and school districts.
-
Accepted an award from the Texas Division of Emergency Management (TDEM) for a subgrant from FEMA for the DR4781-TX Public Assistance Grant – Texas Severe Storms, Straight-line Winds, Tornados and Flooding. The subgrant will pay for a portion of storm cleanup work performed by the county in 2024.
-
Approved the final draft of a Request for Proposals (RFP) for Jail Inmate Medical Services.
- Approved a final plat for Phase 3 of the Bollinger Subdivision, which includes 46 lots on 6.7 acres at FM 2720 and Bob White Road.
Caldwell County Commissioners adopted the FY 2025-2026 county budget and
proposed a 2025 tax rate, optimizing available funds and grant programs, keeping
expenses under revenues and continuing to provide necessary services for county
residents.
The annual operating budget covers the cost of maintaining and improving more than
436 miles of roads, emergency management services, 9-1-1 emergency
communications, public safety and law enforcement, elections, permitting and planning,
pursuit of grants and numerous additional programs and benefits.
Commissioners approved a budget that includes $36,993,916.34 in planned general
fund expenses for the period beginning Oct. 1, 2025 and ending Sept. 30, 2026 at their
regular meeting on Sept. 9 and proposed a tax rate of $0.4391 per $100 property
valuation.
Based on the average homestead taxable value of $262,425, the proposed tax rate will
remain the same. The rate represents neither an increase nor decrease compared to
the prior year.
A public hearing on the proposed tax rate will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 23.
Read more about the FY 2025-2026 budget.
Caldwell County is updating its Hazard Mitigation Plan and it is asking you to provide input by taking a brief survey.
Why Hazard Mitigation Plans are important:
- These plans help minimize the impact of natural hazards like floods, wildfires and severe storms by taking preventative measures before disaster strikes.
- Elements of such plans include actions to mitigate risk such as land use planning, infrastructure improvements, public awareness campaigns, and property acquisition.
- Having an approved Hazard Mitigation Plan often makes a county eligible for federal funding to implement mitigation projects.
***COMMISSIONERS COURT TIME CHANGE***
The next regular meeting of the Caldwell County Commissioners Court will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday, September 9.
A new law took effect on September 1 that requires counties to post agendas at least three full business days before the meeting begins. While the county originally published the Sept. 9 meeting agenda on Wednesday, Sept. 3, it was discovered that a discussion/action item needed to be added shortly after it was published.
Due to a technical issue with the cloud-based program the county uses to publish and distribute agendas, the county was unable to publish the amended agenda until 11:30 a.m. today (September 4). Because of the new rule, that means the meeting cannot start before 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 9.
Please note: The amended agenda still makes reference to a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. That public hearing will now commence after the meeting begins.
See the full agenda (this opens a PDF document).
Learn more about HB 1522 (this will take you to an external website).