By BARBARA GREEN
editor@bowienewsonline.com
The 2023 tax rate and 2023-24 budget for Montague County were both adopted on Monday.
Commissioners gave unanimous approval to the financial items with Commissioner Roy Darden absent due to illness.
The general fund budget which includes the majority of county offices is budgeted at $11,457,991, while the four road and bridge precincts total $4,695,052 and the rest of the budget encompasses restricted funds.
There were no major purchases in the budget other than two new vehicles for the transport officers in the sheriff’s department. The elections administrator will move her part-time worker to full-time and the jail added a second transportation officer.
In overall expenses there is a pay raise of $5,000 per employee (not the 5% stated in Saturday’s story) and a 5.5% health insurance rate hike. The other increases were inflationary primarily for operations and supplies.
The 2023 tax rate is .5017 cents per $100 in property value, compared to .50360 cents in 2022.
Tik Tok banned
Montague County made adjustments to its employee handbook and policies to ban Tik Tok and related social media use on county-owned devices, as well as personal devices used by county employees. The prohibition makes the county in compliance with Senate Bill 1893.

Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.