BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas — Commissioner Steve Aldrich is running against two other Republican candidates for the Brazos County Precinct 1 Commissioner seat.
- One point of debate is the Commissioner's handling of proposed tax rate increases. Commissioner Aldrich missed 10 Commissioner's Court meetings to prevent the court from passing any proposed increases to the tax rate.
- Both candidates running for Aldrich's seat say they would have voted for the tax rate increase.
- They also say the court wasn't able to conduct business concerning other matters because of this, but the commissioner says that was not the case. He says the court can decide any other issues with 3 members' votes.
- For more information, here is each candidate's website:
BROADCAST SCRIPT:
As Brazos County residents start heading to the polls, they will have three choices for County Commissioner in Precinct 1. Incumber Steve Aldrich, former College Station mayor Karl Mooney, and former Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission Executive Bentley Nettles.
One point of contention — tax rates. In 2020, Commissioner Aldrich intentionally missed 10 Commissioner's Court meetings to prevent the court from passing any proposed increases to the tax rate.
“The single most important thing a Commissioner's court does is put together a budget for operations of the county and then sets a tax rate in order to fund that. Budget was fine — tax rate was too high," Aldrich said.
Nettles and Dr. Mooney both condemn the commissioner's actions.
“They wanted to see no new revenue budget passed to keep a tax rate low — I understand that — we should try to keep tax rates as low as we possibly can," Dr. Mooney said.
"But we also need to be aware of and make sure we have the appropriate funds to do the things that the citizens need.”
NETTLES: “Nobody likes paying their property tax bill — me, I’m no different than anybody else, however, there’s a way to fight that battle and you don’t do it in ways that you burn bridges with the other commissioners," Nettles said.
"You’re going to have to go back over that bridge.”
While they agree on some issues, such as expanding infrastructure, they also have differing priorities in other areas, like providing more veteran services.
“In McLennan County they developed what’s called a veteran one stop shop — so the veterans can go and get information from the county, the state, and the federal government — we should do that for our veterans here," Nettles said.
Attracting more businesses to the area is also a topic of discussion.
“I'm hoping that as a county commissioner, I might get the county to also participate along with our two largest cities in bringing at least one YMCA facility to the area," Dr. Mooney said.
"We are the capital of the Brazos Valley, and we need to take on that role in a in a more not necessarily aggressive but a very positive way.”
Discussions also include increasing access to mental health.
“I'm working very strongly with the Health District on the Brazos county representative to the health district board, and enhancing increasing mental health care in Brazos County," Aldrich said.
We’ll have a link to each candidate’s page with more information about their campaigns on our website so you can be fully informed when you head to the polls.