Texas Tax Code 26.0442 – Tax Rate Adjustment for County Indigent Defense Compensation Expenditures
(a) In this section, “indigent defense compensation expenditures” for a tax year means the difference between:
(1) the amount paid by a county in the period beginning on July 1 of the tax year preceding the tax year for which the tax is adopted and ending on June 30 of the tax year for which the tax is adopted to:
(A) provide appointed counsel for indigent individuals in criminal or civil proceedings in accordance with the schedule of fees adopted under Article 26.05, Code of Criminal Procedure; and
(B) fund the operations of a public defender‘s office under Article 26.044, Code of Criminal Procedure; and
(2) the amount of any state grants received by the county during that period for those purposes.
(b) If a county’s indigent defense compensation expenditures exceed the amount of those expenditures for the preceding tax year, the no-new-revenue maintenance and operations rate for the county is increased by the lesser of the rates computed according to the following formulas:
(Current Tax Year‘s Indigent Defense Compensation Expenditures – Preceding Tax Year’s Indigent Defense Compensation Expenditures) / (Current Total Value – New Property Value)
Terms Used In Texas Tax Code 26.0442
- Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
- Tax year: means the calendar year. See Texas Tax Code 1.04
- Year: means 12 consecutive months. See Texas Government Code 311.005