Cass County leaders are putting Austin on notice. On Friday, commissioners there signed off on a resolution urging state lawmakers to overhaul how county roads are funded, and officials in neighboring Smith County say they are lining up a matching measure. The pitch is simple but bold: move roughly one penny of the state motor-fuels tax, about 5% of the levy, into a dedicated county fund. Backers say that tiny slice could free up about $190 million a year for local roads statewide, giving counties a stable repair budget without hiking local property taxes.
Smith County Judge Neal Franklin told KLTV that the county-maintained network is “our transportation” and that the state formula counties rely on “has been effectively unchanged since 1954.” He said the proposed change would likely bring Smith County roughly $1 million a year, a number he plans to put in front of commissioners as they map out future projects. In Cass County, Judge Travis Ransom shepherded the resolution through earlier this week, and county officials say they will now circulate it to other courts to build a regional bloc.
Why judges say counties are strapped
Counties are not just filling potholes on side roads. Federal Highway Administration data show they maintain roughly 150,600 of Texas’ approximately 323,364 public road miles, nearly half of the entire system. All that asphalt and gravel comes with a hefty price tag, especially as construction, fuel, and materials costs keep climbing. The County Judges and Commissioners Association of Texas has been pressing for a steadier revenue stream in its legislative platform, arguing that one-off grants and special pots of money are helpful but do not fix what they describe as a structural funding gap.
What is in the proposed fix
The Cass County resolution asks lawmakers to shift about one penny of the state motor-fuels tax into the County Fund and to dedicate 5% of Texas electric-vehicle registration fees to county roads, according to reporting by KLTV. Supporters say that a single-penny adjustment would generate roughly $190 million a year across the state while keeping property tax bills where they are. In Smith County, officials say a predictable stream of new revenue could plug gaps in the county’s multiyear road plan and speed up projects that have already slipped behind schedule.
Background, grants and past proposals
State lawmakers have written big checks for county roads before, but usually in bursts. Programs such as the County Transportation Infrastructure Fund and similar grant efforts have steered hundreds of millions toward local projects, yet they have not provided a steady, long-term funding base, according to coverage by County Progress. County leaders argue that carving out a small, dedicated share of the fuel tax, paired with a slice of electric-vehicle fees, would replace those stopgap dollars with something reliable and reduce the need for emergency bailouts or local tax hikes when roads start to fall apart…