County residents will be facing a tax increase this year as county officials prepare to offset increasing expenses and construct a brand new building on the courthouse square.

County commissioners plan to decide in their September 11 meeting to bump the tax rate for the next fiscal year from 78.85 cents per $100 property valuation up to 82.41 cents.

The difference will mean about $20 extra in taxes per year per $50,000 worth of property owned. A county resident owning a $50,000 home and home site would have paid $394.25 in county tax under the old rate and will pay $412.05 under the new rate.

A Karnes City man is facing felony charges after police say he led them on a high-speed chase through the county across two cities August 23.

Kenedy police Sergeant Jeremy Stevens said the chase started out in Kenedy on F.M. 793 where 24-year-old Charles Randall Trice was riding his motorcycle 62 miles an hour in a 40-mile-an-hour zone.

Kenedy police officer Felix Casanova turned on his overhead lights and signaled Stevens to stop, police reports indicate, but Trice kept going. His speed reached in excess of 120 miles an hour as he sped down F.M. 793 heading toward Texas Highway 80.

Karnes City residents soon will be seeing new faces at the curbside on trash pickup days, along with a $4-a-month bill increase.

Council members there agreed to accept the proposal from waste collection company IESI during their regular meeting August 28 just two months after current provider Waste Management announced they would no longer be serving the area.

The move from Waste Management to IESI will result in an increase of $4.12 on residential customers’ monthly refuse bills, moving the total from $13.98 to $18.10.