County looks to make same contracts with schools, cities

For decades, Orange County has contracted with the local cities and public school districts to provide the county's Road and Bridge Department to repair streets and parking lots. Now, county commissioners court is trying to come up with a contract that will be the same for all the entities.

As individual contracts with the entities have come up for renewal recently, commissioners said they wanted to review the contracts. Usually for the school districts, the work involves repaving parking lots and short roads on a school campus. The individual district will pay the costs for the road materials used and sometimes other costs.

The county does some roadwork in the smallest cities like Rose City and Pine Forest, along with some stretches of city-maintained public streets. The philosophy has been that the property owners in incorporated areas pay the same county property taxes as those who live outside city limits.

County Judge John Gothia said the commissioners court wants to make sure all the entities are having the same contract and paying the same rates. Also, court members want a way toe assure county roads are given priority before city streets.

He said some cities have bigger street departments than the county. Also, the county has such a big backlog of roads under county jurisdiction to complete, those roads should take a priority.

The commissioners held a special workshop on the subject Tuesday, but took no action. Precinct 1 Commissioner Johnny Trahan, who has had recent health problems, was absent, though he attended the meeting two weeks earlier.

During the regular commissioners court meeting after the workshop, the court agreed to spend $1,232 for extra help in the tax office during the peak season when property taxes are paid. County Tax Assessor-Collector Octavia Guzman said the department usually gets an extra worker during that time. Someone retired from the tax office will be used as the temporary hire, so no training will be needed.

Property tax statements were mailed in November. The taxes are due by January 31. Homeowners age 65 and older may sign a form to pay their property taxes in four payments rather than the full amount in January.

The largest single bill payment commissioners approved was for $650,055 to T Construction for drainage improvement projects paid through federal and state hurricane recovery grants.

Other bill payments approved included $36,696 from the general fund to Silsbee Toyota Toyota for a 2024 Toyota Tacoma truck to be used by the health and code department. Also, $27,10 from the general fund to Kommercial Kitchen for a Vulcan tilting skillet and installation in the jail. $21,653 from the general fund to the University of Texas Medical Branch as the monthly payment for health care services.

Also, $18,984 from the general fund to Pellerin Laundry Machinery for a washing machine for the jail. $1,150 from the general fund to Dorman Funeral Home for indigent funeral expenses. $516 to Claybar Funeral Home for indigent funeral expenses. $60,404 from the road and bridge fund to Silsbee Ford for a 2023 Ford F250 pickup truck. $9,000 from the hotel-motel tax fund to the Orange County Economic Development Corporation for the Placer.ai annual license. $17,925 from the special grants fund to Lark Group for demolition work on several properties. $34,312 from the general fund to the Southeast Texas Regional Planning Commission as the county's annual dues.