Cass County places ‘assistance district’ proposition on Nov. ballot

CASS COUNTY, Texas (KLTV) - Looking ahead to the November election, an East Texas county is looking at a proposition for an “Assistance District” to get voter approval, to spark funding and lower property taxes.

Cass County Judge Travis Ransom talked about Proposition A for an “Assistance District.”

“What a county assistance district does is collect a sales tax from your purchases,” Ransom said. “Out in the county, we’ve never collected a sales tax before. Cass county plans on collecting 1.75%, which is a quarter cent below the cap.”

He said the revenue is needed for essential infrastructure.

“If this passes, we will dedicate those funds to debt reduction, infrastructure or roads and bridges. We have over a thousand linear miles of roadway in Cass county, and it will be walled off so we can’t use it for just anything,” Ransom said.

But, this is not something that can be supported by someone living inside the city limits. Only rural residents who live outside the city limits in Cass County will be able to vote for it.

The sales tax has proven to be a big help to cities.

“That and property taxes are the two most important items that keep your parks going, your streets going, your policemen going, your fire department. All those things are served by property tax and sales tax,” said Linden City Manager Lee Elliott.

Ransom also said there’s good news through this sales tax for rural property owners.

“Every dollar we pull from retail sales, we don’t have to pull from property tax, so ultimately this will cause our property tax eventually to go down,” Ransom said.

If the proposition passes, Cass County would not receive any money from it until July of next year.

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