A sharper-than-expected drop in taxable property values has put an end to any hopes, at least for this year, of building a new county jail. It also means the county likely will be operating with a budget deficit of about $75,000 this coming year even with a potential doubledigit tax increase. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any good news,” County Auditor Rhonda Martin told members of the Dawson County Commissioners Court at the outset of a budget discussion during their regular meeting Tuesday afternoon. The news was even worse than expected. Instead of a hoped-for decrease of no more than about $75 million, the county’s ...