CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — Nueces County commissioners began the difficult task of dealing with a potential multimillion-dollar budget shortfall during Wednesday's regularly-scheduled meeting.
As we reported Friday, the budget problems are tied to appraisal values for local refineries.
In some cases, those figures have jumped by as much as $5 billion.
While departments within the county have been budgeting based on the inflated numbers, right now, that money is available on paper only.
That’s because the higher tax bills will almost certainly be contested, rather than collected, leaving the county with a huge budget deficit.
As Pct. 4 commissioner Brent Chesney reminded the court Wednesday, the ramifications for the county could prove to be historic.
“I get we’re all in a tight spot, but boy, let me tell you: No one’s in a tighter spot right now than Nueces County is. Our budget’s going to be the worst ever unless some miracle happens," he said.
The shortage means the county faces the possibility of cutting as much as 27 percent of its operating budget, leading county judge Connie Scott to meet with department heads and elected officials, asking them to re-think their 2023-24 budgets.
3NEWS checked with city of Corpus Christi officials to see whether its budget also would be affected, and they provided a statement that reads:
The refineries whose values have increased this year are not in the city limits of Corpus Christi, and so these values are not included in the City of Corpus Christi’s assessed valuations for the determination of the property tax rate. Instead, the refineries have industrial district agreements with the City of Corpus Christi and pay the City of Corpus Christi ‘payment in lieu of taxes’ (PILOT). Therefore, the City of Corpus Christi’s budget is not adversely impacted by the increase in the refineries’ assessed values as some of the other taxing jurisdictions are this year.
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