What is a County Judge?

The County Judge is the head of government for Collin County. It is an administrative, non-judicial position. A primary duty of the County Judge is chairing a County Commissioners Court, which includes four Commissioners elected from geographic areas.

The County Commissioners Court has budgetary responsibility for virtually all county departments, including those managed by other elected officials. The County Commissioners Court also has direct operational oversight over a number of county departments.

Major county responsibilities include courts (including state district courts, county courts at law and justice of the peace courts), the district attorney, the county jail, probation, the sheriff, the constables, homeland security, county roads and bridges, regional transportation planning, property tax collection, elections administration, public health (including various health-related social services), the medical examiner, animal services, county parks, passports and vital records. Many of these functions are performed as a subdivision of the state government.

More information is available at the Collin County government web page, www.co.collin.tx.us/government/index.jsp. A list of all the departments and links to their respective web pages is at www.co.collin.tx.us/departments.jsp.