Fort Bend County homeowners will save about $15 a year on their tax bills after commissioners voted Thursday, Sept. 10, to cut the property tax rate by half a cent.

The 4-0 vote lowered the rate from 41.2 cents to 40.7 cents per $100 of taxable value, a reduction county leaders said would mean roughly $6.4 million less in projected property-tax revenue. The rate passed with Precinct 2 Commissioner Grady Prestage joining Interim County Judge Daniel Wong and Republican Commissioners Vincent Morales and Andy Meyers, the Houston Press reported.

Commissioner Dexter McCoy, the Precinct 4 Democrat who is also the party's nominee for county judge, walked out during the tax rate vote.

McCoy's walkout capped a tense session that began with a pre-meeting press conference. State Sen. Borris Miles, whose Missouri City office serves District 13, joined McCoy, Prestage and state Reps. Ron Reynolds and Suleiman Lalani to challenge Wong's legal standing, according to Houston Press reporter April Towery on X.

The dispute centers on whether Wong's interim appointment has expired. Fort Bend County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson, a Democrat, has ruled it has. A Republican judge issued an order allowing Wong to stay. Prestage and McCoy had boycotted commissioners court for roughly two and a half months but returned because state law requires four votes to adopt a tax rate.

Prestage repeatedly asked Wong to abstain. Wong refused.

"Four commissioners can run the day-to-day operations and vote, and it's no question about the legitimacy of those votes," Prestage said at the meeting, according to KHOU.

McCoy returned after the tax rate vote to cast a ballot on the county's $841 million fiscal year 2027 budget, which passed 3-2. Both Democrats voted against it. The budget includes 2.5% cost-of-living raises for county employees.

McCoy said his opposition reflected what he called unlawful staffing cuts to elected officials' offices. During an Aug. 27 meeting, the court had voted to move most of County Attorney Smith-Lawson's staff under a new department and to eliminate three of the county's eight associate judge positions. Democrats say those moves are political retaliation tied to the Wong dispute.

As we reported Sept. 10, the budget vote also raised questions about restoring those judge posts.

Miles said at the press conference that he plans to push for clearer rules governing interim appointments during the next legislative session to prevent what he called political retaliation.

A trial on the lawsuit challenging Wong's appointment is set for Nov. 10, one week after the Nov. 3 general election. Wong and McCoy are on that ballot, competing for the full four-year county judge term. The next commissioners court meeting is Thursday, Sept. 24.