County to adopt FY 2020 budget

Donley County Com-missioners will consider adopting a $2.79 million budget for fiscal year 2020 during their regular meeting next Monday, September 9.

A public budget hearing held before the vote will start at 9 a.m.

County Judge John Howard said the proposed budget is unusual because of one particular line item.

“The salient feature of this year’s budget is that we need money for a capital murder trial,” Howard said.
The trial would be that of Jarvis Fierro, who stands accused of murdering James Fierro and Candice Garrett earlier this year.

Howard said recent capital murder trial costs in other counties have ranged from $123,000 to $941,000, and he says Donley County’s proposed budget is about $81,000 for that expense.
Some state funds may be available to assist the county with the burden of paying for the trial.

“We can ask the governor for permission to apply for a grant as funds are available, called a County Essentials Grant,” Howard said.

In addition to the prosecutor’s costs in the trial, the county is also obligated to pay for the defense of the accused. The county already pays into a regional public defender fund out of Lubbock, which costs about $2,000 per year and is providing for two defense attorneys from Wichita Falls. That only pays for the lawyers and not expert witnesses or other costs.

An indigent defense grant might also provide relief for those defense costs, Howard said, but the county must first spend the money before it can apply for assistance.

Outside of the capital murder trial, the judge said regular indigent defense expenses are rising. The county has already exceeded its $40,000 indigent defense budget for the current year by about $14,000. Commissioners have increased that budget line to $60,000 in the new year.

The 2020 budget will be supported by a total tax rate of $0.65970 per $100 valuation, which is about four cents lower than the current tax rate. Howard said the rate is lower than both the rollback rate or the effective rate and therefore does not require holding public hearings on that.

County employees will receive a $50 per month cost of living raise, and Howard notes that the county has been able to lift county salaries for full time positions by about $4,900 over the last six years.

Health insurance premiums for full time employees are going up about $45 per month, and the county will cover that cost.

The county will receive its third of ten annual payments from the wind farm in the next fiscal year, an amount of $200,000. Unlike the previous two years when the county put half of that money into reserves, all of the payment will go to help cover expenses in fiscal 2020. Howard hopes when the trial is completed, the county can resume putting money into savings in 2021.

The county budget also includes the fourth year of a five-year grant for the sheriff’s department’s highway safety officer. The county will pay 60 percent of the expense for that officer in 2020.

Howard said overall he believes the county in this new budget is doing well to live within its means while meeting the needs of the people and its employees.