Though Dallas County Commissioners voted to keep the same tax rates for 2018, homeowners will still get a bigger tax bill according to the Dallas Morning News. 

Because of a booming real estate market, taxable property values surged 9.5 percent countywide, Ken Nolan, chief appraiser for the Dallas County Central Appraisal District, told the News.

In addition to covering county services, a portion of the tax rate is allocated to Parkland Memorial Hospital.

County Judge Clay Jenkins and Commissioner Mike Cantrell proposed slightly lowering the county tax rate from 24.3 cents per $100 in property valuation to 23 cents per property valuation. But Commissioners John Wiley Price, Theresa Daniel, and Elba Garcia voted to maintain the current rate to cover a three percent raise for employees and compensate for a $13 million budget error made by the county auditor’s office. 

In Parkland’s allotment of county taxes, Price and Cantrell tried unsuccessfully to lower the county hospital’s rate from 27.9 cents per $100 in property valuation to slightly less than 25 cents per property valuation. The voting majority opted to keep the existing rate because of declining federal government funding for care of poor and uninsured patients. 

Budget Director Ryan Brown told the paper that the approved county budget is nearly $1 billion with a general fund of $581 million. The approved county budget for Parkland Memorial Hospital is $1.4 billion.