Proposed gifts of $26,400 would help pave Cooke County roads

Four proposed donations would put $26,400 toward paving parts of County Road 131 and County Road 134 in Cooke County's Precinct 1, according to the agenda for the Sept. 14, 2026, meeting of the Cooke County Commissioners Court. The county's adopted budget shows that the money would add to a road fund that relies mainly on property taxes.

The agenda does not establish whether commissioners accepted the proposed donations. It has no vote count and no attendance record. The donation items set no start date for paving and give no estimate of what the work will cost. The amounts on the agenda are gifts, not project costs.

The offers are on the consent agenda as items Z, AA, LL and MM, and each is for the same amount. Karen B. Simpson's gift names CR 131. Sandra Goode's gift names CR 131 and CR 134 to FM 371. Sherman Moore and Tommy Brent Goode are in separate items. Each of their gifts is for the part of CR 131 that runs east of CR 134 to FM 371.

In the adopted fiscal 2026 budget, current property taxes supply more than four of every five dollars the county expects for the Road and Bridge 1 fund. The budget plans on no donations. But gifts have come in before. According to the budget's actual figures, donations to the fund in fiscal 2023, and again in fiscal 2024, were each more than twice the total of the four September offers.

| Figure | Amount |

|---|---:|

| Four proposed gifts, Sept. 14 agenda | $26,400 |

| Road and Bridge 1 donations, FY2023 actual | $72,232 |

| Road and Bridge 1 donations, FY2024 actual | $62,203.20 |

| Road and Bridge 1 donations, FY2026 budget | $0 |

| Current property taxes, FY2026 budget | $2,302,853 |

| Total Road and Bridge 1 revenue, FY2026 budget | $2,738,053 |

Sources: Cooke County Commissioners Court agenda, Sept. 14, 2026; Cooke County FY2026 adopted budget.

State law allows this kind of gift. Section 251.019 of the Texas Transportation Code lets a commissioners court accept money, labor or property to build or maintain county roads, bridges and culverts. It requires a liability release for the donor. Cooke County's donation form for road materials asks donors to describe the materials, give their value and name the county road that will receive them. The form permits use of the materials only for road construction or maintenance that serves the public.

The court has seen road gifts before. An Oct. 9, 2023, agenda listed an agreement for donated materials for West Lone Oak Road under Jason Snuggs. That agenda does not record a vote. In neighboring Montague County, the fiscal 2015 annual financial report includes a donation from an individual for road repair in the revenue of the previous fiscal year.

Collin County started a program to pave its dirt and rock county roads in 2004. The county reports that the program has improved more than 400 miles. Collin County says that paved roads make less dust and cost less to maintain, because crews must replace the road base on gravel roads again and again. When the county must make a road wider, the program depends on easements that adjoining landowners give voluntarily.