County okays $2.8 million budget for FY ’19

Donley County Commissioners approved a $2.846 million budget for fiscal year 2019 when they met in regular session Monday.

County Judge John Howard said the new budget will address improving county salaries and also continue to build reserves for the county.

County employees will receive an across the board $900 per year raise with the exception of road hands and jail dispatchers, who are receiving higher targeted raises.

“We have difficulty training and keeping dispatchers at our current salaries,” Howard said.

Health insurance prices continue to be an escalating expense for the county. Premiums have doubled in the last ten years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act. This year, for the first time, county employees will be contributing $40 per paycheck to their own health insurance.

The new budget includes money for building an addition to the county barn to protect equipment. Commissioners also on Monday accepted a bid of $57,300 for construction on that project. Materials for that work costing about $27,000 were purchase in the current budget.

The 2019 budget will be the first to include revenue from the wind energy facility in the northern part of the county. Howard said the $200,000 revenue line item is the first of ten the county will have before that facility’s tax abatement expires and the equipment goes on the tax rolls.

“We’re taking an approach of spending half and saving half of those funds,” Howard said. “If we can do that for ten years, we’ll have saved $1 million.”

The new budget is supported by a total tax rate of $0.69984 per $100 valuation, which is not far off from the current rate of $0.69941. Due to higher property evaluations, the new rate will bring in an extra $103,446.14, which is an increase of about 7.75 percent.

County officials continue to worry about the state government shifting cost burdens to local government without providing funding for those responsibilities, and Howard also said there is still talk in Austin about limiting the ability of counties to raise taxes. But he is optimistic the county can live within its means at the current tax rate.

“I think we can function well at this tax rate even though everything continues to go up,” Howard said. “Our expenses are up 20 percent in five years, but our tax rate has only gone up about 10 percent.”

In other county business Monday, commissioners approved a resolution declaring September as National Preparedness Month, approved an election services agreement with the clerk’s office and Memphis ISD for a tax ratification election on November 6, approved the holiday schedule for 2018-2019, and voted to move the regular October meeting to October 10 to avoid meeting on Columbus Day.

Motions were also approved to purchase a computer for the clerk’s office, participate in the Panhandle Ground Water Planning Group, and to approve the county attorney’s attendance at a Galveston meeting.