After the Democrats broke quorum in an earlier meeting to block a tax rate vote, the Tarrant County Commissioners Court proceeded this week, with Democrat Commissioner Roderick Miles in attendance.
As previously reported by The Dallas Express, two Democratic commissioners skipped last week’s meeting, preventing a vote on lowering property taxes.
“The Tarrant County Commissioners Court was on track to not just lower county and hospital district property tax rates, but to lower the rates below the respective no-new-revenue rates for the third year in a row,” Tarrant County Judge Tim O’Hare posted on Facebook.
County rules require at least four commissioners to be present to set a tax rate. With Miles in attendance, the court voted 3-1 to approve the lower rate, with Miles casting the dissenting vote.
“When you’re cutting property taxes, you are helping the poorest in our community the most,” O’Hare said following the vote.
Republican Commissioner Manny Ramirez praised Miles for attending even though he opposed the measure.
“You show up, you dialogue, you discuss, and sometimes your perspective carries the day and wins, and sometimes it doesn’t,” Ramirez said, according to the Fort Worth Report. “But you show up.”
Miles defended his absence from the prior meeting. “My absence was based upon me being sick, and being unable to be here, and my opposition to the proposed rates,” Miles said during the meeting.
Members of the public also weighed in, with some praising the commissioners for providing tax relief.
“Anywhere we can save a penny or two, it does help,” Republican Precinct Chair Linda Ford said.