County Judge Brandon Huckabee and commissioners talked upcoming budget in their Monday, Aug. 24 Commissioners Court meeting.
The budget talks were held during open court after a series of special budget workshops had been held over the past several weeks allowing county department heads to provide budget feedback.
Though none of the commissioners had anything to add to Monday’s budget discussion, Huckabee provided a few highlights of what is anticipated in this year’s budget.
The county judge emphasized a need to invest in “human capital” and said salaries will be a large part of the budget.
“We have a proposed pay plan that sets us up to be competitive,” he said. “It will better serve the public and help us retain the best employees out there.”
The county will be restructuring its pay scale with a base pay and then longevity plan. The change is estimated to be about $1.4 million in the budget.
Fourteen new positions are included in the proposed budget: nine law enforcement, two tax office/DMV, one custodian (for the new annex), an additional HR person and an additional admin clerk.
Huckabee said in the future, revenue from the county’s jail may have to be adjusted since less counties are sending over inmates, and Erath is housing more of its own inmates. Currently, out of 125 inmates there were only four from Hood County and none for Coryell, the judge pointed out.
In the proposed budget, the county will be spending $5 million of ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds to put all law enforcement on the same system across the county, improving communication between entities.
“It makes it much, much safer,” Huckabee said.
The county will also be entering into its second year of county taxes being frozen for those 65 and older.
The county’s proposed budget is expected to be online for public viewing this week at http://coerath. tx.us and the county’s public hearing for the budget is anticipated to be held Sept. 6.
The budget must be approved by Sept. 30.
Subdivision Coordinator Jason Gardner presented the board with a list of names of those who will serve on the committee for Subdivision, Rural and Land Development Department.
The committee has been charged with reviewing subdivision and rural development guidelines, and bringing the recommendations to the court.
Committee members include: Jason Gardner, Judge Huckabee, Jocelyn Perez, Gwinda Jones, Dee Stephens, Joe England, Keith Bailey, Joanna Friebele, Dewayne Elston and Nick Williams.
The committee’s first meeting will be set for Sept. 8, and Gardner said he expected meetings to last about three hours with a set of three to four of them needed.
Gardner also presented several items on the agenda that were approved by the court including a corrected replat for Mountain Lakes Section Two, a final plat for Rough Creek Lodge Lots 1-7 and a final plat for Haven Development on County Road 487.
Jurors in the county will see an increase in pay as the commissioners unanimously agreed to increase pay from $40 a day to $60 a day.
Court Clerk Wanda Greer explained that for Erath County, jurors received $10 just for showing up ($6 is reimbursed by the state, but Erath includes extra dollars in every instance of juror pay). On the second day, jurors then begin receiving $40 a day. For Erath, that $40 begins on day one, since they often begin trials on that day.
The state recently increased the daily pay to $52, however Greer explained even numbers would make the job of paying jurors much easier and recommended making the daily pay $60.
Though grand jury is not typically included through the state pay, the court approved adding them to the pay increase.
Bails will now be able to be made electronically after a partnership between Genesis eBonds Services was approved.
Several contracts and interlocal agreements were approved during the meeting including: ■ a contract between ESO Solutions and Erath County EMS (for medical billing components)
■ a contract for law enforcement services agreement between Morgan Mill ISD and Erath County Sheriff’s Office
■ a contract for law enforcement services agreement between Three Way ISD and Erath County Sheriff’s Office
■ an interlocal agreement between Erath County and the city of Stephenville
■ an interlocal agreement between North Central Texas Emergency Communications District and Erath County for local addressing and GIS Services
■ an interlocal agreement between between North Central Texas Emergency Communications District and Erath County for Regional 9-1-1 services. In other business the court approved: ■ a job description for custodian
■ a job description for pretrial release officer
■ adding an additional dispatcher
■ adding an additional custodian
■ a sub-depository contract with the Bank of Houston in Dublin
■ the July 2023 monthly treasurers report
■ hiring a moving company for the new annex at a cost of $10,950
■ an optional Road and Bridge fee for Fiscal year 2024 (a $10 fee on tags)
■ the appointment of Huckabee as trustee for Pecan Valley Centers Behavioral and Development Care In public comments, Republican Party chair Dave Washam stated that filing for the primary would soon be on the horizon and information about the primary would be provided soon. In the primary for the county will be the offices of the District Attorney, County Attorney, Sheriff, Commissioner 1 and Commissioner 3 and both constables.