The handbook pronounces the name EE-rath. Dublin is the other early town.
Erath County's seat is Stephenville. A timbers job and a prairie job can share a week. The close is remote.
Stephenville is the seat. The handbook gives the spoken name as EE-rath. George B. Erath, one of the surveyors of this ground and a soldier at San Jacinto, is the namesake. The county was marked off in 1856 from Bosque County and Coryell County. John M. Stephen offered land for a courthouse and a townsite if the town was named Stephenville and made the seat. The state agreed that year.
Two belts split the work. The Western Cross Timbers cover the northwestern two-thirds, post oak over sandy and red clay. The Grand Prairie covers the southeastern third, darker limy ground and live oak where little bluestem once stood. The Paluxy and the Bosque both run toward the Brazos. Dublin is the other early settlement, near the 1854 claims. The north of the county is noted for coal, fireclay, oil, and gas. The south has sand the entry calls glass-making quality. A timbers ticket and a prairie ticket can both reach Stephenville.
The rate question comes after the belt is named.
The July 2026 Comptroller figure used here shows a county sales tax of 0.5% for Erath County. State sales tax is 6.25%. Where a city has its own rate, that city rate stacks on the state rate and any county rate. The combined cap is 8.25%. City rates are not listed on this page.
Business personal property renditions go to the county appraisal district for Erath County. Put April 15 on the calendar. That district's form says which date controls the list.
The franchise report is due May 15. Texas has no state income tax. Neither date goes away because of that.
Start with the ground on your invoice, not with the crop. Paper from the northwest belt is the Cross Timbers job. Paper from the southeast belt is the Grand Prairie job. Your Stephenville folder can hold both during one month, and each keeps the belt printed on it.
A Dublin bill keeps Dublin. A Paluxy description stays with that river, and a Bosque description stays with the other, even though both waters eventually meet a larger stream. A coal, fireclay, oil, or gas stub gets its own caption only when that stub is in your hand. Sand the handbook calls glass-making quality stays off your hay check when the check never mentions sand.
You are the one who knows which side of the county the work sat on. Put that side in the note you send with the file. The 1856 parents do not receive your folder. The county rate on the Comptroller line will not name the belt for you.
If your May deposit includes both a northwest timber sale and a southeast prairie sale, keep the date on each. You will want that split when you look back at which side carried the month. A Dublin bill, if you have one, stays dated under Dublin.
Book a time if the timbers job and the prairie job are one line.
Book a time to name the Stephenville credit
Sources:
Handbook of Texas: Erath County
County sales tax is the July 2026 Texas Comptroller figure supplied in the project county file. Seat, year, name, and the county it was formed from are the same file.