Hawk Cove, Texas, September 9, 2023. Tax season can drag on. Hearings, motions, seconds, votes. This afternoon we tried something leaner. The Mayor, Darren Evans, called a special session “to order on September 9 2023 at 4:01 p.m.” At roll call, Council Member Amanda Bodiford answered “here.” City Attorney Ronna L. Hodges also attended.
The Mayor then explained the situation: “Because this requires an act, and we do not have a quorum at this time, then I must, in accordance with the tax code, section 26.05, produce a tax rate in accordance with the tax code in sufficient time for publication.” In case anyone missed it: “Again, we have no quorum.”
Teamwork on the numbers
When the Mayor read the figure, the City Attorney helped: “Your honor, respectfully, I would submit to you that the value is zero point eight three four three three zero.” With the number settled, public comment was handled briskly: “Okay, no public comment.” Then the Mayor announced the outcome: “Again, in accordance with Section 26.05 of the Texas Tax Code, the city must adopt a proposed tax rate,” and “We will now schedule a public hearing.”
“This meeting is adjourned at 4:10 on September 9, 2023.” There was no motion, no second and no vote, which saved a great deal of time.
For the record
- State law: “at a called meeting or at a meeting to consider the imposition of taxes, two-thirds of the number of aldermen established by that section constitutes a quorum unless provided otherwise” (Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code §22.039). The number of aldermen is five (§22.031(b)).
- Also state law: the mayor “may vote only if there is a tie” (§22.037(a)).
- The rate the Hunt County Tax Office lists for Hawk Cove for 2023 is 0.834330 (2023 listing).
We leave the arithmetic to the reader. The full nine minutes are on Meeting Videos, and the tax-rate statutes are quoted in full under How the Tax Rate Gets Adopted.