At Arvest Bank’s Friday Financial Forum at the Eastside Branch location last week, the Washington County Commissioners and County Assessor gave a presentation. Assessor Todd Mathes led the presentation, which broke down the County’s property tax dollar distribution in 2018.

Commissioner Mike Dunlap said people need to know where their money goes. He said legislators like Sen. Julie Daniels didn't know the numbers until the forum on Friday. That led Dunlap to say the Commissioners need to offer more transparency to the public, especially with what they hope to do in the future.

58-percent of the property tax dollars in 2018 went toward schools in Washington County. Vo-tech Centers received 13-percent of the property tax dollars. Cities and towns came next at 9.8-percent while Washington County itself received 9.1-percent. That includes all County Offices.

Tax Increment Finance Districts retained nearly 7.3-percent of the property tax dollars. To cap it off, the Washington County Health Department received 2.3-percent of the allocated funds.