After public comments, the Erath Commissioners Court gave an update on ongoing air conditioning issues occurring in the brand new County Annex II building.
Regular county commissioner meeting attendee Vincent Parro spoke during public comments about the building, asking who is responsible, who needs to be held accountable and stating that there needs to be an official public report.
“The court needs to make this a priority,” he said.
County Judge Brandon Huckabee provided some feedback on the ongoing problems.
“It’s under warranty and there has been nothing out of pocket so far,” he said. “Financially, there has been no impact but it’s impacting our staff.”
Currently, there is one part of the AC unit that they are waiting on with the general contractor.
“I think we are moving in the right direction,”Huckabee said.
“Getting parts for anything is ridiculous,” Precinct 1 County Commissioner Dee Stephens said.
Tax Assessor-Collector Jennifer Carey whose offices are housed in Annex II said that they have AC everywhere but her section. Fans are being utilized to help combat the high temps.
The county also received its annual audit from Eide Bailly and earned an unmodified opinion, or the best opinion that can be received.
CPA Jeremy Stephens presented the report and told the county there were no problems and they had a “good, clean audit.”
“This is very good to hear,” Huckabee said.
Each year, Erath County provides their annual financial statements to an outside Independent Audit Firm to be audited. Once the audit is completed, the audit firm gives an opinion on the county’s financial statements. The firms audit the county’s books from top to bottom to make sure the financial statements are prepared according to GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) and are correct. They conduct their audit in accordance with GAAS (governmental auditing standards).
The county uses a couple different audit firms to perform these annual audits.
For the past couple years Eide Bailly of Abilene has audited the county financials. Prior to Eide Bailly, BMY of Stephenville, performed numerous audits for the county. The two audit firms perform a total of at least four audits every year on the County, Adult Probation, Juvenile Probation and the Erath County Volunteer Fire Department. This year Eide Bailly performed the County and ECVFD audits and BMY completed the Adult and Juvenile Probation audits. The commissioners court began a rotation between the two firms starting with the September 30, 2021 financial audit.
Stephens pointed out several Financial Highlights from the 2023 Financial Statements.
In summary, there were no reported errors requiring any corrections to the county’s books Stephens noted the following key financial highlights: The county brought in approximately $33,000,000 in revenue from taxes, grants, and other fees compared to $27,000,000 in the prior year. Most of the increase was related to the ARPA grant.
The county spent $33,000,000 on general expenditures, special and dedicated projects, debt service and capital outlay, compared to $27,000,000 in the prior year. The increased expenditures was also related to the ARPA grant.
The county completed the new multi-purpose annex in FY 2023 in the amount of 7.7 million dollars using cash reserves and no new debt.
The auditors also mentioned Erath County has a fund balance of 27,600,000 with 16,000,000 being unassigned (not reserved) for general county expenditures. The rest of the fund balance is reserved by law for special purposes.
Huckabee stated his thanks to the firm and their thoroughness.
“People do say that they feel like they’ve been audited,” Stephens said, to laughter from the crowd.
The court also approved $4,500 for the bronze associated with the Alamo Letter project. Throughout Texas, there is a project to place a replica of William B. Travis’ famous “Victory or Death” letter from the Alamo at all 254 county courthouses. The project is being done throughout the state by the nonprofit Alamo Letter Society.
In Erath, the Sons of the Republic of Texas are already paying for the cradle and base of the monument at a cost of $2,800. The monument will be placed on the southside of the courthouse.
Huckabee asked the commissioners what they would like to do in regards to the needed funds – either the county pay for it or they would continue to seek donors.
“I feel like our heritage is important and worth at least $4,500,” Precinct 4 Commissioner Jim Buck said.
The court made the decision to go ahead and allocate the money.
“History is important,” Huckabee said.
Erath County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Jeremy Woodruff addressed the court with several items including the latest jail audit.
Woodruff said the jail passed with flying colors and the audit with the Texas Commission on Jail Standards is extremely detailed from checking actual cells to menus and talking to the inmate themselves. The audit comes about every 18 months.
The 144 bed jail houses 80-90 inmates on average, Woodruff said.
In another jail related item, the court approved the sheriff’s office to utilize CTC jail mail procedures, scanning inmate’s mail and providing it electronically instead of physically.
“Throughout the state, we are seeing inmate mail being soaked with different kinds of chemicals,” Woodruff explained.
The change was at no cost to the county since it’s already part of another software program that the jail utilizes.
The sheriff’s office was also given approval to move forward with selling three 2018 Tahoes and one 2019 Tahoe at a public auction through either Enterprise or Govdeals.com.
Woodruff explained three of them were high mileage and one of the vehicles doesn’t run at all.
In other business the court approved: ■ a domestic violence high risk team memo of understanding with Cross Timbers Family Services
■ a copier lease agreement between Kirbo’s and the County Extension Office
■ going out for road material bids for FY 2025
■ zero valued metal shelving that was damaged from a storage shed and several other items from the Erath County Sheriff’s Office
■ Precinct 1 selling a 2012 Komatsu Mini Excavator to Bosque County Precinct 3 for $20,000 with an interlocal agreement
■ a permit for a driveway construction in Precinct 4
■ the June treasurer’s report In new business, Huckabee said the court would continue its work on the upcoming budget with certified values being received on July 25 and the proposed budget being presented Aug. 15.