‘Biggest Little Town’in Texas Won’t Incorporate

This small West Texas town--the only community in Delaware-size Crockett County--may lack the amenities big Texas cities offer, but that doesn’t faze its residents, who say it’s what their town doesn’t offer that makes it unique.

“We’ve always said we’re the biggest little town in the world, and that’s because we’re the cheapest place for taxes in the state,” said County Judge A. O. Fields. “The big advantage to living in Ozona is tax-wise.”

Since its founding nearly a century ago, Ozona has chosen not to incorporate, although it is the sole community in the seventh-largest county in the state.

By not incorporating, the 4,100 residents of Ozona avoid paying city taxes--a savings that “you often can’t believe,” Fields said.

‘County Does Everything’

“The county does everything, so we only have to pay county taxes. There is no duplication of services, and that keeps the tax rate way down.”

Currently, the county tax rate stands at 55.6 cents per $100, according to Crockett County Auditor Dick Kirby.

The town, where about 90% of the population of Crockett County resides, is managed by a four-member county commission.

“There’s no mayor, no police department,” Fields said. The county takes care of everything from law enforcement, in the form of the sheriff’s department, to garbage and trash collection, which is handled by the county water district.

County government also oversees maintenance of the town’s parks, 18-bed hospital and roads.

“It’s really quite simple and has been working this way for a long time,” said Fields, who recently became county judge after serving 25 years as justice of the peace for Crockett County and Ozona.

Drawbacks Conceded

And residents of Ozona say they never intend to allow their community to incorporate.

But, Fields conceded, there are drawbacks to living in Ozona, which rests just off Interstate 10 about 200 miles west of San Antonio and 120 miles southeast of Midland-Odessa.

“You’re limited here in that there’s no place to work, and you don’t want to retire here because there’s nothing to do,” Fields said.

Most people in Ozona are ranchers and have lived in Crockett County their entire lives, he said.