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County budget looks to future
By Pearl Cantrell
Monitor Staff Writer
ATHENS–Henderson County Commissioners hesitated to close the book on a
30-day effort to finalize next year’s $36 million budget.
But when all 33 amendments had been crafted and accepted, there wasn’t
anything left to do but sign off on it.
That they did Monday morning, 4-1, with Precinct 3 Commissioner Ronny
Lawrence opposed.
Lawrence consistently opposed the way pay raises were allocated, leaving
out lowly clerks and equipment operators/laborers, and sometimes
providing hefty increases to those making the most, such as judges and
lawyers (most of the hikes are mandated by state law).
“Everyone who got a raise also has a county vehicle,” Lawrence pointed
out. “I’d like to see us come up with a policy that would take this into
consideration.”
“I think overall, it’s a good budget. No one’s going to get everything
they wanted, but it’s progressive and attacks long-term problems,”
County Judge David Holstein said.
“We’ve cut the tax rate, provided to pay the bills. It includes planning
for the future,” Holstein added. “Overall it’s something we can be proud
of.”
The county looks forward to constructing a new Records Management
Building, pending the outcome of the facilities management study being
graciously paid for by the Ginger Murchison Foundation.
Toward that effort, the fiscal year (FY) 2009 budget includes $2.7
million for capital improvements, which also covers roof repairs and
renovations.
A key item in the FY ’09 budget is the establishment of a position pay
scale, and determining pay raises in order to retain and attract the
best and brightest to county service.
The salaries of elected officials are also broken out within the salary
category, so anyone reading the budget can easily see how much office
holders are compensated for their services.
Including the officials’ salaries was one of the last five amendments,
and very important to the commissioners.
“I was happy with it. Of course, that was before I noticed my salary
wasn’t included in it,” Lawrence chuckled.
That change didn’t increase the Road and Bridge budgets of each
precinct, it just lessened the amount of road building material funds by
$60,000 for a net change of zero.
“I could have built a lot of roads with it,” Lawrence said.
Holstein said the amended budget would be ready for public viewing at
the county website hendersonco.tx.us.gov.
In addition to setting pay scales and positions, commissioners approved
the FY ’09 budget by its seven categories.
Assistant auditor Debra Flowers explained if the commissioners approved
the budget by its categories – salaries, benefits, supplies public
support, debt service, and operations and other services, the number of
budget amendments coming before them weekly would greatly decrease.
“When we present amendments, you’ll get just the ones that matter,” she
said. “And, it allows department heads to manage their areas more
effectively.”
Once the FY ’09 budget goes into effect Jan. 1, amendments will be
presented only when funds are to be transferred from one category to
another, she explained.
Each precinct commissioner has about $1.2 million to pay salaries
(including their own, $60,000 annually) and pay for road building
material, fuel, capital outlay (vehicle purchases) fuel and office
supplies.
This comes directly from the percentage of the tax rate allotted to them
– the smallest of all other percentages, Precinct 1 Joe Hall pointed
out.
Commissioners adopted the maximum tax rate as the set tax rate – 47.6016
cents per $100 worth of property value.
Even though voters approved a three-cent increase in the tax rate in
order to expand the jail to nearly double its capacity, the need to
increase the tax rate never materialized. In fact, this year’s rate
represents a 3/8ths of a penny reduction from last year.
Within the budget, the district attorney received funding for two
full-time investigators with vehicles, a $200,000 bump in the DA’s
budget over last year.
The full-time warrant officer in the County Attorney’s office was
renamed an investigator, with a corresponding payscale increase.
Pay for court enforcement clerks (three positions) was bumped up $1,320
to be equal to other collection clerks in the Hot Check division.
Justice of the Peace (JP) precincts 2 and 3 both lost one part-time
position, with the cut portion amounting to $9,962, which was moved into
juvenile operations to help pay for court-appointed attorneys requested
by Child Protective Services.
A minor adjustment in the JP 4 postage line item was made to account for
a previous mistake in ordering too much postage last year.
WCC offers reward
Shooter damages Lively tower
Special to The Monitor
TOOL – The West Cedar Creek Municipal Utility District is offering a
$2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of
the person or persons who shot a hole in the water tower on
Farm-to-Market 2613 in the Lively community the evening of Sept. 23.
The shot caused a large amount of damage to the tower and a great loss
of water.
Anyone with information is encouraged to contact the Kaufman County
Sheriff’s Department at (972) 932-4337 or the West Cedar Creek MUD at
(903) 432-3704.
The identity of informants will be protected.
MHS drumline places in Plano
Monitor Staff Reports
MABANK–The Mabank High School Drumline returned from a “Best of the
Best” competition among Northeast Texas’ finest percussionist with a
first place in its Class A category.
The Plano competition was held in Clark Stadium Saturday.
The 17-member drumline, with freshman through senior classmen, had a
difficult time slot, following a large Class AAA performance.
Notwithstanding, the local youngsters placed fourth out of 14 drumlines.
The groups were judged and critiqued only on the execution of their show
music, proving a close contest, with only ½ point separating the
drumlines who captured first through third place.
Local supporters got a peek at the competition program the night before
at Panther Stadium.
The drumline treated the crowd to two selections before performing “An
American Salute,” their competition piece. Besides a great rendition,
which included a flute, it ended on a high note with the raising of the
“Stars and Stripes” in tribute.
The supportive crowd roared in appreciation.
This performance was dedicated to the drumline graduating seniors Jared
Autrey and Casey Wood.
All music was arranged by Steve Vento, Jeff Johnson and Lamar Burkhalter.
The drumline thanks the community for the attendance at their preview
show, their parents for their unyielding support, and last, but not
least, their percussion director, Jeff Johnson.
Band directors for Mabank are Jeff Dubose, Denise Kennedy, Scott Kennedy
and Kenn Mcsperitt.
The Mabank drumline is under student leadership of drumline captain Juan
Chavez.
An opportunity to see some of the best marching bands in Northeast Texas
approaches.
The 17th annual Cedar Creek Mrching Festival is set for Saturday, Oct.
11, at Panther Stadium. The all-day, free event gets started at 9 a.m.
and continues until 7 p.m.
The Mabank Marching Band will put on a exhibition at the close of the
festival. |