[0:00] order.
Uh,
[0:02] it is still
July the 27th.
[0:05] This is 2:00 in the afternoon.
And we're back in session and
[0:08] Commissioner's Court is back in session
in a budget workshop.
[0:13] And uh
[0:17] I guess the best place to start is the
overall view of
[0:21] what we got Let me talk about procedure
first. I think a lot of you probably are
[0:25] not familiar with this procedure.
Uh, it is my duty as the County Judge to
[0:30] make a recommended budget to the court.
Uh, the court can accept that
[0:35] recommendation, modify the
recommendation, or refuse it. Come up
[0:38] with their own budget.
Uh,
[0:41] procedurally that's
what we're looking at here.
[0:44] Uh
And we start with my recommended budget.
[0:48] My recommended budget, I mentioned this
morning,
[0:50] technically was due to be filed
tomorrow.
[0:54] It's not ready.
So, we're working on trying to get it
[0:57] get something ready for recommendations.
Uh
[1:01] Anything we talk about here today is not
final
[1:05] because it's all subject to change,
whether I change the recommendation or
[1:08] whether the court changes my
recommendation for me.
[1:12] Uh
So, let me kind of start with the big
[1:15] picture and we'll go up maybe 30, 35,000
ft, take a look at the big picture, and
[1:20] then try to come back down and focus on
a few critical areas.
[1:24] First of all,
uh
[1:27] we're talking about uh
uh expenses and revenues.
[1:32] And with the Let's start with the
revenues. What I have projected so far
[1:37] is uh $34 million in property tax
revenue
[1:41] and approximately $20 million in non-tax
revenue
[1:45] for a total of revenues of $54 million.
Uh
[1:51] I'm projecting more expenses than that.
This is the time for me to take a little
[1:55] footnote
and explain to you what we do about
[1:58] budget culture. I've alluded to this in
the past, but it is something that
[2:03] I've learned to live with.
Uh,
[2:06] I don't like it.
But I have to live with it.
[2:10] And it has to do with
disclosed and undisclosed contingency
[2:14] funds.
In my budget you will find a disclosed
[2:18] contingency fund.
We'll talk about that.
[2:21] I'm telling you exactly how much money
that I I propose that we set aside for
[2:25] contingencies.
Now, having said that,
[2:30] I do not provide individual
contingencies for each department or
[2:34] office.
And what we have learned historically,
[2:39] and I'm talking about this is this is
you know, when I came into office this
[2:43] is I asked about why we did it this way
and they said because we always have
[2:47] done it this way.
So, I'm not defending the propriety or
[2:52] effectiveness of it or efficaciousness
of it.
[2:55] But it is nonetheless reality. And that
is that each department head
[3:00] and each elected official
that prepares a budget and has input
[3:04] into in code that that we assemble all
this information to come up with this
[3:08] projection.
There are ways that
[3:12] uh
office office department heads and
[3:15] elected officials protect themselves in
projecting sometimes what is what I call
[3:20] the undisclosed contingency. What's in
there that I don't know.
[3:25] And sometimes that's just a calculated
risk. You know, you look at it say is is
[3:29] that really going to happen this year?
Do I need to put it in the budget for
[3:31] this year?
Or do you look at it every year and say
[3:34] just in case it happens I want to have
the funds in my budget.
[3:39] Those usually are never disclosed,
rarely known, and by the end of the
[3:45] budget year, just like we're coming up
on the end of the 25-26 fiscal year,
[3:51] uh we discover what is not spent.
When we learn what's not spent,
[3:58] uh, and we can do a pretty reasonable
projection as well what is needed to the
[4:01] end of this fiscal year, which would be
the end of September.
[4:04] Uh,
and we can project the the the surplus
[4:08] that we're going to have in the budget.
And those are real dollars.
[4:13] Uh, they're they're in the budget. They
they they've been allotted and spoken
[4:18] for, uh, but they're unspent because
whatever contingency it was that that
[4:23] contemplated
did not occur.
[4:25] Or if it occurred,
not at that expense, not that rate.
[4:30] And so every year we had this, uh, un-
un- unidentified surplus
[4:37] that was not really we couldn't really
figure out what it was. This and this
[4:40] goes back Don and I've been doing this
too long, but long enough to know that,
[4:46] uh, and and Commissioner Baloo was
probably the one that came up with the
[4:48] best phrase for it.
And what he called budget culture.
[4:53] And it's just part of our budget
culture.
[4:57] And so when you look at this difference
between 62 million in expenses and 54
[5:01] million dollars in income,
part of what is included in that is this
[5:06] budget culture because we know not all
the funds that get budgeted will get
[5:10] spent.
Uh,
[5:14] now, some of the funds in this budget
provide for capital outlays. That means
[5:19] that we're spending money
uh, for capital improvements of one kind
[5:22] or another. There's about 900,000
dollars in straight purchase for the
[5:26] capital budget.
And when you purchase, there's kind of I
[5:29] look at it from two points of view.
One,
[5:33] you can buy it outright.
We do that frequently. Some of the
[5:36] things we buy are pretty expensive and
we may or may not, uh, want to pay all
[5:41] of it up front.
Uh,
[5:44] another thing we can do is we can have
leases.
[5:47] Uh,
and then one that the the that technique
[5:50] that I've taken to
is sometimes we just take some of these
[5:53] smaller capital outlays, aggregate them
together,
[5:56] borrow the money
uh
[5:59] from our our our our lender.
Uh
[6:02] They pay for it that way and then pay it
back over time. It's an amortized debt.
[6:06] So, we take some expenses, aggregate
them, uh borrow the money,
[6:11] and then pay it back
on a regular installment payment of some
[6:14] sort.
Uh and those show up in this budget,
[6:16] also.
Uh as well as as as the leases.
[6:21] Uh
this particular year, we're we're
[6:24] working on some of the last of our ARPA
funds.
[6:28] Uh those were the uh
those were funds that were hotly
[6:31] contested, if you remember, at the
beginning, uh that have been used very
[6:35] wisely. In fact, without those funds, I
don't think we'd have the communication
[6:39] system that we have with the sheriff's
office. That definitely saved lives and
[6:44] saved property damage. Uh being able to
have that type of communication system.
[6:49] Uh
and it was a investment well spent.
[6:53] Uh we used the ARPA funds to do that
because it was one of the items that
[6:57] appeared to be
I won't say impossible, but very
[7:02] difficult for the federal government to
claw back.
[7:05] And we were concerned about the claw
back provisions. Uh
[7:08] we didn't want to take the government
money, spend the government money, then
[7:12] have them say that what we spent it for
was not the appropriate thing to spend
[7:16] the money that they gave us,
uh
[7:18] and then claw it back and have us repay
them.
[7:20] So, we tried to avoid that and and and
by purchasing all of that communication
[7:26] system in one department, and having it
all signed off on up front, uh proved to
[7:31] be uh
the wise thing to do.
[7:36] Um
[7:39] I have included in my proposed budget,
we'll talk about the numbers here in a
[7:43] minute. I've included in my proposed
budget
[7:45] uh
an increase
[7:49] This kind of stuff.
[7:52] In this first draft of my proposed
budget.
[7:56] Okay?
Uh
[7:57] I have I intend to change it. That's one
of the reasons that I've we're slow to
[8:01] complete this budget.
I propose to change that, but I have
[8:05] included a wage adjustment. And for
those of you that are unfamiliar with
[8:10] our terminology, we do not use the word
COLA,
[8:14] the acronym COLA
uh cost of living adjustment because
[8:19] we never adjusted to the cost of living.
Not in Not Not a single time I've been
[8:24] here have we adjusted to what the actual
cost of living was.
[8:27] So, rather than be hypocritical and call
it a COLA
[8:30] and wink and pretend that it is
uh
[8:33] I tried to get honest about it and say
this is just a wage adjustment.
[8:37] And you'll you'll notice that we have
schedules anywhere from a percent uh up
[8:42] to 3% just to so so we can see what it's
going to cost us to to do.
[8:47] Uh
In this budget, I put in an initial 2
[8:50] and 1/2% wage adjustment.
In this proposed budget, and again, I'm
[8:56] proposing to change that, but I want
that disclaimer up front so that you
[8:59] know
uh
[9:01] I have another idea. Uh we'll talk about
that in a minute.
[9:06] Uh
[9:09] There are there's always the issue of
new hires.
[9:13] And
I've I've learned uh
[9:17] uh I've learned to work with the sheriff
and not against the sheriff. Uh he has a
[9:21] plan, and that plan includes a new a new
a new patrol deputy every year.
[9:26] It took us a couple of sessions to
figure that out, but we've
[9:30] I figured it out.
And so, he builds that into his budget.
[9:33] And And there's not anything wrong with
that. We just got to figure out how to
[9:36] pay for it.
Okay?
[9:39] Uh
this year a grant opportunity came
[9:41] along. I discussed it a little bit in
the last workshop.
[9:44] Uh but this grant opportunity, and we
applied for this grant.
[9:48] Uh it was a short-fuse grant application
process.
[9:53] Uh
and
[9:56] it was with what which which federal
>> It's called the Biden Grant.
[10:00] » The Biden
>> There's an acronym for it.
[10:02] » The Biden Grant. Okay.
Anyway,
[10:06] uh it's for law enforcement and it
relates to
[10:10] border enforcement.
And uh there are very few
[10:15] few counties in the in the country
uh that have applied for this grant.
[10:20] And there's billions of dollars sitting
there
[10:22] uh
waiting to be granted uh
[10:26] to a deserving
uh applicant uh and no one's doing it.
[10:31] And
the sheriff came to me with his his his
[10:34] his advisers.
Uh and we had a very candid conversation
[10:37] around the round table in my office
about this grant opportunity, but it
[10:42] didn't coincide with our budget
schedule.
[10:45] Uh budget schedule is
we've already blown the schedule, as you
[10:49] know, but
but the the schedule is that we we try
[10:52] to get the budget uh
recommended budget to the the court uh
[10:57] for review and approval by the end of
July.
[11:00] And then normally we spend the month of
August working on tax rate. Uh
[11:04] in this case we're we're we're kind of
crowding each other.
[11:09] I'm crowding
extending out the budget uh because of
[11:12] the the flood emergency and and disaster
declaration to get it up into mid-August
[11:18] uh and we're simultaneously trying to to
work on our tax rate
[11:23] in response to that.
But this opportunity that was presented
[11:28] uh
I think there's three
[11:31] three stages
uh and and it's not all at once, but uh
[11:38] uh
it is a significant grant.
[11:41] Uh
enough
[11:44] We're talking about what is many as what
a half a dozen?
[11:46] » Yes, sir.
>> patrolmen
[11:49] Uh
that is a significant increase in our
[11:53] capacity to protect the citizens of Kerr
County.
[11:57] And but there's there's this this timing
glitch and Sheriff and I looked at one
[12:00] another, nodded, uh and agreed we'd take
the risk.
[12:05] Rather than trying to put this in the
budget because
[12:08] uh
patrolmen are not cheap.
[12:13] They're worth it,
but they're not cheap.
[12:16] Uh
and when you put them in the budget, you
[12:18] got to find some way to to raise the
money
[12:21] to pay them.
And
[12:24] the most customary way is to raise the
tax rates.
[12:30] And I wouldn't believe at the point, but
in the 7 years that I've been in this
[12:33] job, we have not raised the tax rate one
time. Not once.
[12:37] My first year, when I was learning and
uh we didn't have an auditor at the
[12:40] time, uh
[12:44] the the first assistant and I got a
budget out with no tax rate at the same
[12:49] rate it was the year before.
Uh
[12:52] and kind of dodged the bullet. And then
every year after that, we have reduced
[12:55] it to the no new tax rate limit date.
Uh in compliance with the legislative
[12:59] mandate that we got, that's what they
wanted us to do, so we complied with
[13:02] that.
And that has been true for the last 6
[13:05] years.
With this grant opportunity is an
[13:09] opportunity for us to continue that
tradition.
[13:12] And uh we'll know a little bit later in
August where we stand on on on on step
[13:17] number one uh cuz it is a three-step
process to get all of it.
[13:22] Uh but uh
that has been factored into in budget by
[13:26] not including
uh
[13:28] the regular deputy that he would ask
for.
[13:31] And that would be a new hire.
And in this budget I have not included
[13:37] hiring for any new positions.
Not saying that they might not be
[13:41] needed. I'm just saying that I don't
think we have the financial ability
[13:46] to service that at this time.
So
[13:50] then uh
[13:56] talked a little bit about
what I propose to put in the budget with
[14:00] regard to the wage adjustment
response. That has to do with steps and
[14:05] grades.
And
[14:08] not not to beat that horse to death, but
our compensation system where you found
[14:14] that because we if we're using across
the board wage adjustment increase,
[14:18] whether it's 1% 2 and 1/2% that I have
built into this proposal or whatever it
[14:23] is,
ultimately
[14:26] the people who benefit the most from
that
[14:29] are the top wage earners.
Because they have bigger numbers and the
[14:32] percentage of that number means
they get paid more.
[14:38] In the salary study that was performed
by
[14:42] What's Mr. Werling's first name? I
forget it.
[14:45] Huh?
Steve. Steve. Steve Werling.
[14:49] And by the way, we checked Steve Werling
out. He's got he he's done this for many
[14:52] many many
public entities.
[14:55] And I got a sterling representation
recommendation for him from ACOG. You
[15:01] know, I've served on that board for a
number of years myself.
[15:05] And uh
he did a salary study last year that we
[15:09] were unable to address.
We're just in the middle of crisis
[15:12] times. Not that we're not now, but
we were back then.
[15:16] And
I didn't have time to really wrestle
[15:20] with
his proposal on the salary study.
[15:25] This year, what I'm trying to do is to
incorporate that salary study into
[15:30] the budget.
And what that's going to do is more
[15:33] fairly represent
a living wage for our employees.
[15:39] And it's broken down into quartiles,
first, second, third, and fourth.
[15:44] And our goal is to try to get everyone
up into at least the second quartile.
[15:50] So that they're If you think about high,
low, and medium, I try to get them in
[15:54] the medium salary range for their peers
in the workplace.
[15:58] And uh
but
[16:01] that that's what that's one of the the
blanks that I've left in this and just
[16:04] put this placeholder number that I was
telling you about. That placeholder
[16:07] number is there
so we can figure out what to do about
[16:10] the salary situation and the wage
adjustment.
[16:14] And that number that I've got place held
in the in the budget is $657,000.
[16:23] Uh
the last thing that I'll share with you
[16:25] before we get into the the numbers, and
y'all don't have the paperwork that we
[16:28] have,
uh which make make it a little bit more
[16:31] difficult, but it's all being recorded,
so you can go back and check it.
[16:36] But uh
[16:38] the recommendation from TAC and the
representation from
[16:43] uh
state authorities, and I'll leave it
[16:47] vague and just say state authorities,
is that we try to keep 3 months' worth
[16:51] of funds
in our fund balance
[16:55] uh to be able to fund the government for
3 months if something happens.
[17:01] And so that's 25%.
And so to those of us that work on
[17:05] budget, uh 25% is kind of the
the goal. We look at try to have 25%.
[17:13] We've been successful in years past at
being able to maintain a fund balance a
[17:16] little bit larger than that uh simply
because of the budget culture because
[17:21] the money gets spent. So, we kept it in
the bank.
[17:24] Uh and then last year
uh we took a little over 12 and 1/2
[17:29] million dollars of that and put it into
the budget that we took out of the fund
[17:33] balance
uh because we had uh accumulated that uh
[17:39] budget culture money
uh to try to offset uh
[17:44] what would have been the deficit in the
budget uh
[17:47] in order for us to be able to adopt the
no new revenue rate.
[17:51] So, that's our goal is to try to keep
25% there.
[17:55] So, one of the things that we always
have when you see these spreadsheets at
[17:59] the very last column at the very bottom,
it tells you uh what that percentage is.
[18:08] Uh and in
this one what we're looking at is
[18:12] right at the 25%.
Uh
[18:17] We if we go on the basis of the
[18:21] And so, the
this has 25.69%
[18:25] is where we have it even with the
placeholder in there to adopt the salary
[18:28] study rate wages.
So, that's the overview
[18:33] of one page here that has all the
numbers on it
[18:37] uh
that we try to put in it. And then we'll
[18:40] go and talking about some of the
component parts
[18:43] uh
what I wanted to do was make you aware
[18:46] of
some of the things that I've included
[18:49] and some of the things that I have not
included.
[18:52] So,
I'll pass that. Let's talk about new
[18:56] positions. I didn't put new positions in
there.
[19:00] And uh
[19:03] But for the grand opportunity we would
have had to put some new positions in
[19:07] there.
But with the grand opportunity uh Um, we
[19:10] have successfully avoided that
thus far in the recommendation.
[19:16] Then we get to special request.
And uh
[19:20] there are different things that come
from different folks.
[19:25] When you talk about special requests
that comes out of the HR department.
[19:30] Uh, when I'm talking about capital
outlay, which we'll talk about in a
[19:33] minute, that comes from the accounting.
[19:38] Auditor.
And uh
[19:44] to make sure that everybody remember
something that I've I've said several
[19:47] times that I don't know how many people
really think about what I'm saying.
[19:50] But uh
[19:53] the auditor is hired by the district
judges on behalf of the state of Texas
[19:59] to monitor what we do with the money,
how we spend it, how we budget it.
[20:05] And she reports back to
the district judges. She does not report
[20:09] to us. She is for all practical purposes
the watchdog to make sure that we spend
[20:15] the money wisely. And that we spend the
money appropriately.
[20:19] And so uh
that office deals with the capital
[20:23] uh outlays
while special requests come from HR.
[20:27] They new positions also, but uh
and then they they they didn't mention
[20:32] me when I told them we weren't going to
do any new positions, but
[20:35] um, the only reason we're able to do
that is because of that grant
[20:37] opportunity.
And then uh
[20:42] so those are the the moving parts to the
budget.
[20:47] Now, uh with cap with regard to capital
outlays,
[20:51] uh
[20:56] I'm looking
and for what I can say in that bag.
[21:02] I have not recommended all the
uh recommended or proposed capital
[21:07] outlays.
Um
[21:11] For example,
with regard to the
[21:16] jail,
[21:18] this is a $10,000 item.
[21:25] I forget what that is, Sheriff, the
$37,000 one?
[21:29] » Uh
what does it say?
[21:31] » That's the Durango up one above Durango
up one of those up operating equipment
[21:35] replacements.
>> SCAP SCAP A A A A A A
[21:39] » Yeah, that that's why I was using SCAP
money for that. Yeah, and that's that's
[21:42] what that's what I recommended here in
my budget is to recommend that it be
[21:44] paid out of SCAP fund.
I can't tell you exactly what SCAP is.
[21:48] He can
and he manages it well, but he does have
[21:52] other revenues available to cut to cover
some of these costs and that was one of
[21:56] them that I recommended.
Another one that I had issues about
[22:02] are several of them in road and bridge.
One had to do with the $650,000
[22:07] improvement at a Cave Springs, which is
that in Cypress Springs. I think that's
[22:11] Precinct 4. I think Precinct 4.
[22:15] And that that's road and bridge work in
in the very high-class neighborhood.
[22:21] Then we had road and bridge had another
recommendation.
[22:26] This is something that we know is
inevitable and we need to decide are we
[22:30] going to try to fund it now or we going
to try to do it in installments, what we
[22:33] want to do about it, and that's repaving
the parking lot at Hill Country Youth
[22:37] Event Center.
And that was a $187,000
[22:41] plus proposal that I did not recommend
at this point.
[22:46] It's going to have to be done. We're
probably going to have to do it in
[22:48] stages, maybe over 4 years or I don't
know what we're going to be able to do.
[22:54] But I didn't recommend that at this
time.
[22:57] And then another one that's been brought
to my attention is the Flat Rock Park
[23:02] uh road uh
which is gone again.
[23:06] » Can I Can I speak to that?
>> Please.
[23:08] » I I drove with the other day. Had to
meet a gentleman down there uh at the
[23:12] boat ramp and I drove it We just We just
did a heck of a job paving it last year.
[23:17] » Yeah, I know it.
>> It had looked great. Now it's gone. Uh
[23:20] and if y'all been down there uh it makes
a big circle, the bottom portion.
[23:28] The portion closest to the road up the
hill
[23:32] there's spots that are washed out. And
it's not a total redo. Down below is
[23:37] pretty much a total redo. And I
mentioned it to Kelly the other day and
[23:42] I said, "Why you know
uh
[23:44] why don't we just make that a caliche
road rather than repaving it and save a
[23:48] few bucks that way?" And she said, "Oh,
we'd love that cuz we don't have any
[23:52] place to train our new people on run a
maintainer and and run a blade and
[23:56] stuff." And so the proximity would be
great. Uh then Donnie Hatton said, "You
[24:02] know, uh probably the the road closest
that wasn't completely ruined, probably
[24:08] that that leads to the dog park and
stuff. Re-chip seal it, but then maybe
[24:14] the caliche." So I don't She's not here.
I don't know what that would cost, but
[24:18] you know, it's a basically $9,600
I don't know. It might be my
[24:24] recommendation just leave it in there,
Judge, and uh
[24:27] and it uh
cuz it will take some money just for
[24:30] caliche as well. Uh plus the
the redo on that one road that's not
[24:36] totally demolished.
>> But that's that's one of one of That's a
[24:40] good example of one of the things that
we're that's in play.
[24:44] We're trying to figure out what to do,
what's the best thing to
[24:46] » Hey, Judge, to to go back the uh
Hill Country Youth Exhibition Center
[24:53] » Yes.
>> We've got that money from Spectrum that
[24:55] they received and that's the reason
we're removing that from this budget.
[24:59] Remember we collected that we got that
>> I remember the funds.
[25:03] » Right. They They will be using that to
pay for this.
[25:05] » So, we take that the whole $187,000 out
of the budget.
[25:08] » Well, we're saying it'll probably get
done
[25:10] » Right.
>> regardless.
[25:11] » So, I'll put zero in the budget because
we're going to use the funds that we we
[25:14] earned from TEMA
for the
[25:16] 25 25 flood.
>> Right.
[25:19] » Okay.
>> Good.
[25:21] » Take it off the backs of the taxpayer.
>> Now, let me kind of back up a little bit
[25:25] and give you an idea of some of the
things
[25:27] that I try to do in the budget.
Uh
[25:30] Let's talk about IT. IT has major
capital expenditure requests this year.
[25:35] And we've got old servers that need to
be replaced.
[25:37] And there's nothing inexpensive about
that.
[25:41] It's about 3/4 of a million dollars.
Uh and so, I look at do I purchase? Do I
[25:46] lease?
Uh do I finance?
[25:50] I put that one in the budget to go ahead
and pay for outright.
[25:53] Uh
I've got other things in the budget. Uh
[25:57] Uh got a lease that I proposed to be
leased that wouldn't that would include
[26:02] uh
[26:04] the uh
[26:07] car equipment for JP Precinct the
Constable not JP Constable Precinct 3.
[26:13] Uh I'm putting these things together to
be financed, okay? Or or or to be
[26:17] leased. Uh KCSO I've got in there. I got
another $430,000 on the lease, which is
[26:23] the enterprise lease. for the vehicles.
Uh
[26:28] And I've got another $25,000 for the Ag
Extension over there that I I put in
[26:34] there.
[26:37] Then as we move through the other
projects,
[26:42] uh
one of the big ones is for Road and
[26:46] Bridge.
Uh and this is for equipment.
[26:49] And I've got in here two patch trucks,
uh
[26:53] JD tractor, John Deere I guess, and JD
shredder, three dump trucks,
[27:00] uh
Brosch broom, motor grader, and a wheel
[27:04] loader.
And those are all
[27:06] uh items that have are in the budget,
but I put them in there as debt.
[27:12] So, we intend to borrow. We're going to
take that. That's a million
[27:17] 6 6
uh in there. We're going to take that
[27:20] along with some of these other things,
and we're going to go to our lender to
[27:24] borrow the money at a low low interest
rate loan, and pay it back over time.
[27:27] These are installment payments,
basically what that comes down to.
[27:32] And so, those are items that we have in
the capital outlay. We have in the
[27:36] capital outlay, one of the other things
that I have to address are the balance
[27:38] of those ARPA funds.
Uh
[27:41] and we're going to spend the last of the
ARPA funds this year.
[27:46] And that that
is for a total of a million 547.
[27:51] The last ARPA funds that we have,
uh and those are figured into the budget
[27:56] for the uh
communication system
[28:00] and grant works.
So, that's
[28:04] uh
[28:06] kind of an overview of
[28:10] that.
[28:20] » And that flood recovery, is that from
last year, or is that new for what
[28:24] you're guestimating at this time?
>> That's the 25.
[28:26] » Yeah.
That's what it is.
[28:30] » We haven't got 20
>> Yeah.
[28:31] » 26 into it yet.
>> That's up here.
[28:34] » Well,
>> Yeah, that's fine.
[28:35] » Just trying to be realistic.
>> Well, I know. I'm asking. That's all.
[28:40] » Okay.
[28:44] So, that's kind of the overview of what
I what I've done in my proposal.
[28:49] Uh with regard to the special request,
we talked about those a little bit last
[28:53] time.
Uh
[28:55] and uh
I've made this representation to the
[28:58] people that are affected by the
recommendations that I have made to
[29:01] date. Okay?
And that is that uh
[29:07] if the recommendations that I've made in
response to the special request are
[29:11] greater than what's in the salary study
that I'm trying to incorporate into the
[29:15] budget,
then we'll go with the greater rate
[29:18] because that's there've been that
employees expect expectation
[29:22] because I've already been already
announced what I was recommending.
[29:25] Uh
and if it's less, then we'll give them
[29:28] the higher rate of what's in the uh
salary
[29:31] salary study.
And so uh what we started off with last
[29:34] time was we had in the sheriff's office,
we had
[29:38] uh
two administrative recommendations,
[29:41] uh one for an executive assistant and
another one for the dispatcher.
[29:45] Uh
and I was recommending that the
[29:48] executive administrative assistant
that be dealt with some of the the
[29:53] sheriff's other funds that he has
available to try to do that so we don't
[29:56] build into the grade and step.
Uh and with regard to the
[30:01] uh
dispatcher,
[30:04] uh they
they were requests for
[30:07] uh
I'm looking here.
[30:10] Five grades and
yeah, five grades.
[30:15] And uh
a grade translates into what? About
[30:19] $6,000?
Something like that?
[30:24] I think a step is about three.
And steps are usually about half of the
[30:27] grade.
Ballpark.
[30:29] Uh
and uh
[30:33] what I recommended there was
uh two grades and two steps. And that's
[30:37] because that position I think is is been
underpaid.
[30:43] And I don't say this in a negative way
Sheriff, but
[30:46] well used, maybe not overused, but
definitely during the the 2025 flood
[30:52] uh
I'm telling you
[30:55] they were a lifesaver.
Truly.
[30:58] Truly a lifesaver.
Uh
[31:00] and it's it's time to bring
uh them up to competitive rates, to
[31:04] market to market rates.
Then I looked at uh
[31:09] and then you've got a SB 22 in there.
>> Yes, sir.
[31:11] » We talked about that a little bit this
morning.
[31:13] The one where we have to put the clause
in there that that they get to decide
[31:16] how to spend the money. We can't tell
them what to do with it.
[31:19] So, he's SB 22 in there. He's spending
the money that the legislature is giving
[31:22] him legislature is giving him.
Uh and I can't I can't mess with it. I
[31:26] don't. I respect it. Uh and so that that
request was included in my budget.
[31:33] Then we get to IT.
[31:38] I and I struggle with this one because
[31:43] I
I wish I could do more.
[31:47] I really do.
Uh
[31:49] I can't tell you how improved our IT
department is.
[31:53] Uh we have uh
[31:56] an IT department that is the envy of
local governments right now.
[32:01] And uh
that is attributable to Corey's
[32:04] leadership.
And uh
[32:08] I haven't forgotten
uh
[32:10] when he came and applied and uh did his
interview
[32:15] uh we asked him how much he wanted to be
paid and he told us uh and within a
[32:19] month he realized that he had undersold
himself and came back and talked to us
[32:22] again.
And uh
[32:25] I I believe uh somebody at this table
said well you signed a contract to to do
[32:30] it for the original rate, so just stay
at the original rate.
[32:32] » I think I resemble resembled that.
>> I think you You resemble that remark,
[32:35] but but
[32:38] And and and there was nothing wrong with
it.
[32:41] I mean, it's fair.
And uh
[32:43] I will tell you that Corey
uh swallowed hard,
[32:47] accepted it,
uh owned up to his responsibility of
[32:51] having signed to do it at that rate,
and did it.
[32:54] And I have the utmost respect for that.
Truly do.
[32:58] Uh
and then we get into the performance.
[33:01] Woo.
Off the charts.
[33:04] Uh
And he asked for a raise, and uh
[33:08] I recommend every penny he asked for.
That's what I put in there.
[33:13] Now, he's got a great staff, and and and
he's built a staff. Uh
[33:18] a staff that is also becoming
the envy of local governments in the
[33:22] area.
Uh
[33:24] And so, I'm trying to accommodate that,
uh
[33:27] while at the same time trying to balance
how much money do we have to spend to do
[33:30] this, but that's a department that needs
to be recognized.
[33:34] Uh
And so, for for example,
[33:37] and uh these go by positions. They don't
have names on them. We're not going to
[33:40] talk about names in open court like
this, but
[33:43] uh
I'm recommending that uh
[33:46] uh
See, Corey
[33:49] asked for just a shade under $6,000.
5,943,
[33:54] I think.
Uh and I'm approving that. I'm putting
[33:56] that in my recommended budget.
Uh his number two,
[34:00] uh
[34:03] he asked for a grade and two steps,
and I'm recommending the two steps.
[34:09] That's what I what I recommended on
that.
[34:12] Uh
which be be an increase of a little over
[34:15] $3,600
per year.
[34:18] Uh
Next down, he had one that he was
[34:21] recommending
uh four grades,
[34:24] and uh
uh
[34:27] four grades and
four steps.
[34:32] And truthfully,
he's worth every penny.
[34:36] Truly is.
I'm not going to give you his name, but
[34:38] he's worth it.
Uh
[34:41] and I'm recommending four steps, and
that's going to be a little over that's
[34:44] $5,531.
[34:48] To at least begin to try to get him up
to market rate.
[34:51] Uh then there's what, two others after
that?
[34:55] Uh
and uh
[34:59] I think both of them were recommended
two grades and
[35:03] two steps, and I'm recommending two
steps for each of them.
[35:08] Uh
and that is that those are compromised
[35:10] figures for me.
Uh I'm trying to recognize
[35:15] uh
the accomplishment
[35:17] and the quality.
Uh
[35:20] And uh
hopefully entice them to stay with us,
[35:24] work with us. We're trying to get there.
We're trying to get the salary study in
[35:27] place so that they know what to expect
and plan on for the future.
[35:31] » And Judge, I guess that's my question.
How does
[35:34] the ask compare to the salary survey
data that you've been looking at?
[35:38] » I haven't gone back to double-check
those, but I think they're they're
[35:41] they're
they're competitive.
[35:43] If anything, maybe a little low.
>> So, if I can if I may comment on that a
[35:48] little bit to your question,
the ask actually came in right below
[35:54] each of the salary
study numbers.
[35:57] So,
my ask didn't quite get to the salary
[36:00] study. It's a little bit below that, but
uh
[36:04] if I may comment on the
the reason for the
[36:07] grade
changes
[36:09] was to more closely match
>> Say that again, more what?
[36:15] You know what, start over cuz they're
off camera, so you can be on camera.
[36:19] » All right. So,
the the initial ask for this year was to
[36:23] try and get to the salary study.
And my numbers actually come in right
[36:27] below it. Actually, honestly,
um
[36:30] Uh,
and that's
[36:32] I'm trying to be fair and realistic at
the same time for my guys.
[36:36] Uh, but also the
for the two grade changes requests, that
[36:41] was more of a of a reason to
more accurately
[36:47] identify their roles and
responsibilities based on those
[36:51] positions. So, that's why the grade
changes was the ask.
[36:56] » Well,
I think we may be driving down different
[36:59] roads going to the same place.
>> Yes, sir.
[37:01] » We're trying to get there.
>> Yes, sir.
[37:03] » Uh, and what I represented to you and I
stand by is that uh
[37:08] anyone that I have disclosed publicly
what my recommendations were before we
[37:12] get to the salary study,
uh
[37:16] if the salary study is greater than what
I recommended, we'll go with the salary
[37:19] study for the moment.
>> Appreciate that.
[37:21] » And uh because that's that's the
competitive thing that we're trying to
[37:24] trying to get competitive with our with
our
[37:26] with our other governmental entities.
Uh, and uh
[37:32] if you'd asked for a little bit more,
I'd have gone with it, too, but
[37:35] » Thank you, sir.
>> But uh
[37:38] you're a very vital part of this team
and we're trying we're trying we're
[37:40] trying to keep you happy. So
So, thank you.
[37:42] » That's a great team.
[37:45] » Okay, uh
there was a part-time request uh for JP
[37:50] Precinct 4.
I approved that. That's going to be
[37:52] included in my recommended budget. I
think you're going to have a lot of work
[37:55] getting things organized in Precinct 4.
>> Could be.
[37:59] » That's just That's my humble opinion.
Uh,
[38:03] and then there was uh
I I got asked a lot of questions about
[38:07] this. The tax assessor-collector, Bob
Reems.
[38:10] Uh
[38:12] And I think he was trying I think he was
trying to be fair with us. I honestly
[38:15] do.
And he asked for a one-step increase in
[38:18] his entire staff.
And uh
[38:22] I was asked uh
why? Because he asked for it.
[38:27] And I didn't bother to go
rattle the cages and
[38:33] bang on the doors of all the other
department heads and officials when I
[38:36] came to the conclusion that what I
really wanted to recommend was a salary
[38:39] study.
And so rather than go
[38:44] shake those trees
>> Okay.
[38:46] » uh I'm going to go with the the
recommended salary study which you will
[38:48] find this is going to be very good.
>> Okay.
[38:52] Uh
it was the fairness that kind of
[38:55] disturbed me. Only one department
totally across the boards when the
[38:58] guidance that I remember Commissioner
Harris giving and and a few others
[39:02] echoed it was
don't ask.
[39:05] Was that Did I get that right?
For salary.
[39:08] So
I'm not saying that we shouldn't do
[39:11] anything. I'm just saying, you know I
didn't see this as necessarily being
[39:15] fair to other departments that could
have made and probably would have made
[39:19] very similar requests
had they thought it was acceptable to do
[39:23] so.
[39:26] Just my two cents.
>> Well, and and this was made and I tried
[39:29] to respond to it
>> Okay.
[39:32] » fairly.
Um
[39:35] But all of this will be subsumed if we
go ahead and adopt that uh the whirling
[39:38] salary study.
Now
[39:42] uh
in terms of special request, the last
[39:44] ones that were made were the veteran
services offices and we
[39:47] we went over this what within the last
four or five months.
[39:52] Uh and and and tried to right size that
back then. Still comfortable with the
[39:56] decisions that we made a few months ago.
Uh and we'll take a look at that next
[40:00] next go.
So those are the special requests which
[40:02] go in here.
And uh
[40:08] And then we get to the the wage
adjustments.
[40:12] And uh
I put a two and a half percent in here.
[40:16] Uh and I I want to make sure that
everybody understands the amount of
[40:18] money that we're talking about and how
this works.
[40:21] 1%
And remember,
[40:25] I'm a believer that the wage adjustment
is not fair to all concerned.
[40:29] » Okay.
>> That's it.
[40:31] 1% uh
would be an estimated increase of wages
[40:36] of
$210,375.
[40:39] And then we have the roll up cost
which would be uh retirement cost
[40:44] benefits cost
which we we always average in that 25%
[40:48] and that's been pretty accurate.
>> year.
[40:50] » So, that would cost the county uh
$263,000
[40:54] on the park. Within a few couple couple
hundred dollars.
[40:58] uh
And uh that's for 1%.
[41:03] In the budget I put in
2.5%
[41:07] which is that $657,000 number that we
talked about earlier.
[41:10] That's what that total comes to.
[41:14] And uh
what I have decided to do, rather than
[41:18] try to do the wage adjustment
I want to incorporate and put in
[41:23] uh
uh
[41:25] the budget salary of the the the budget
study
[41:28] uh
for that placeholder number 257. That's
[41:31] what I'm trying to do.
So, instead of everybody getting 2.5%
[41:35] across the board
uh we take and we try to adjust each
[41:39] individual employee per the studied uh
study guidelines from uh Steven Wrenn.
[41:45] uh
and and and keep that in the budget.
[41:47] What I'm trying to do
uh
[41:50] and and uh
this may sound a little
[41:55] nostalgic, but to leave a legacy here
that we're going to look at our
[41:59] employees individually.
Uh and the salary study is good for
[42:03] about 2 years. This is what I think is
the last real effective year of this
[42:06] salary study. But, it's a start.
And if we do this, it's going to make
[42:10] the budgeting process a whole lot more
straightforward and a whole lot simpler
[42:13] every year if you take a look at it to
see
[42:16] who who deserves a raise and who
doesn't.
[42:18] And not just put them in a class and
say, you well, you're grade 14, you're
[42:22] grade 16, this is what you get.
And the steps are more individualized.
[42:27] » So Judge,
I agree with everything you said,
[42:32] but what when you're looking at the
whirling study,
[42:38] we're not talking about implementing
that across the board for every
[42:40] employee.
>> I think he is.
[42:43] » Are you Is that what you're what you're
saying?
[42:46] Are you saying within the limits of the
ones that have applied to the special
[42:49] request?
>> I was doing it across the board.
[42:52] » Yeah, man.
That's where it should be done.
[42:55] » That's That's the 600
>> Is that where that 658,000
[42:59] » The 657 is an extrapolated number,
okay?
[43:03] » Mhm.
>> That's the 2 and 1/2%
[43:06] that I had originally included in my
budget as a recommendation.
[43:11] And what I'm doing on that is waffling.
Okay?
[43:14] Admitting what I'm doing here, I'm
waffling a little bit. So I I prefer to
[43:17] take a look at this and do it
individually.
[43:20] And try to address each one of these
employees individually.
[43:24] And I'm I'm looking at back there at at
my HR director and and her assistant.
[43:28] I'm I'm
I'm saying this right, aren't I?
[43:32] Uh and so
uh in response to well, Bob asked for a
[43:37] step and so Bob got a step, but they
didn't ask for a step. And I've talked
[43:41] to Nadine.
>> Yes, sir.
[43:43] » You're You're back there, okay.
>> Yes, sir.
[43:45] » And she told me,
if I'd have known you'd given me a step,
[43:48] I'd ask for it. Well, see,
everybody would, right?
[43:50] » Exactly.
>> So,
[43:52] what I'm trying to do is to be fair to
everyone and do it all at one time.
[43:56] » Right.
>> And
[43:58] uh absorb this this pain, if you will,
this financial pain, this year and set
[44:04] in motion precedent for the future.
That's what I'm trying to do with that.
[44:09] And if you don't do it, you don't do it.
But it's not up to me. I just make the
[44:14] recommendations. It's up to this court.
And what this court decides.
[44:18] » I support your approach. I like what
you're trying to do.
[44:22] But until I see the number, you know,
what I would suggest is you set it up in
[44:26] a way that
we can still play with uh what amounts
[44:31] to
to
[44:33] » two and a half
>> two and a half to three, you know.
[44:35] » Well, I'm good I'm I'm looking at my HR
department back there cuz I know that I
[44:39] got good numbers, countries.
>> Um if if I may, I think that is the plan
[44:44] that we kind of discussed when we all
got together is what you said. We're
[44:48] going to take the $657,000
and do the best we can, but it will be a
[44:54] system-wide
moving everybody to a certain point. I
[45:00] know that in there even
um
[45:03] if if you're in a certain spot with the
wage adjustment, you're making more than
[45:10] than what the salary study shows, you
may only get a 1% raise. If you're
[45:15] making even more than that, you may only
get the $500. I think it's roughly what
[45:20] we were looking at the highest.
>> I'm on that page with you. My only
[45:24] concern is that strictly speaking, if
you followed that salary study to a T,
[45:29] we might find that the total budget
required was 5%.
[45:33] » And so we put
>> would be problematic. I'm just saying.
[45:36] » This this is the number.
This is the number that I plugged in,
[45:40] the placeholder number, Bridge.
>> Okay.
[45:42] » So, that number
>> But I thought it wasn't based on the
[45:44] ser-
>> It's not. It's just It's just the
[45:47] number.
I know. It's the place- placeholder
[45:49] number.
And so what what what Pam is sharing
[45:52] with me is what what our approach would
be is to try to go through and allocate
[45:57] even we have to, you know, a little bit
less uh per employee, whatever it comes
[46:00] down to.
But try to get to something that's more
[46:03] equitable and only spend that amount of
money. The 657.
[46:09] I can't spend any more money than that.
>> Because you get to get to that complete
[46:12] report, it's going to take about a
million dollars.
[46:16] » I don't know.
>> That's probably right.
[46:18] » Yeah.
>> And if I may,
[46:21] I I think to me also judge part of the
that's a start on where this study goes.
[46:28] And so we're moving to where we do make
the wage that is like in the salary
[46:35] study. Okay, but we won't get there in
one year. One of the other part that I
[46:40] kind of like about it, it takes away the
steps. So we may have grades, but
[46:45] there's no more steps. So it will make
the position schedule is real easy. The
[46:49] goal that we're shooting for is that if
you're a clerk in the
[46:56] I'm going to pick on Megan because she's
here the county clerk's office. Clerks
[47:00] across the board make X amount.
That's what every clerk in there is
[47:06] going to make. It's going to simplify
payroll. It's going to simplify a whole
[47:10] lot. But a second step of putting that
in, right now we give
[47:15] 2.5%
adjustment to everybody pretty much
[47:19] after 3 years. I know starting off it's
a little bit We want to move that to
[47:24] where every year instead of doing that,
that's automatic. It doesn't matter what
[47:30] type of job you do. You're in here long
enough, you're going to get that
[47:34] percentage raise.
We would like to see it move to a 1%
[47:40] a year merit accrued increase for each
individual. So if you've got somebody
[47:45] making $10,000 a year, the most you
could give that person is 1% of that
[47:52] every single year. So there and that's a
merit. And you can give a portion of the
[47:57] 1%. So, it lets the elected official
at least have some way of rewarding
[48:03] their high performers. So, that would be
a switch. It would be 3%, you know, over
[48:09] 3 years instead of 2.5%
over 3 years.
[48:14] Those are the two things to me that in
reading the study that that spoke to me,
[48:20] I guess.
[48:23] » As complicated as that sounds, it's a
whole lot less complicated than what we
[48:27] have.
>> Oh gosh, yes.
[48:28] » That is true.
>> And for those of you that haven't
[48:31] learned it,
God help you.
[48:34] Yeah, it's it it Well, it is.
And I I was an economics major, pretty
[48:40] good with numbers.
It it took me a while to figure all this
[48:43] stuff out. It's a complicated system.
And this is much more streamlined.
[48:47] » Judge, I have a question on the
[48:51] if this compounds,
for instance, this is about a 2 and 1/2
[48:57] 2.4%
uh
[48:59] increase, which is
all of the tax assessor office. It's a
[49:03] one-step. It equals about 2.4% increase,
that one step, average per person.
[49:09] Now,
with this
[49:13] allotment, if you will, this 2.5%
allotment that you would like to make
[49:17] individually per person, right? You want
to have the discretion to do this. Does
[49:21] this
automatically compound on with any
[49:24] additions for the special request as
well, or does that give you the
[49:29] opportunity to look to it and go, "Look,
they're already getting a special
[49:31] request one-step increase of 2.4%?"
>> That's not the intent.
[49:37] » Okay.
>> Let me explain what the intent is.
[49:40] The $657,000 number is just a number.
This is how we came up with the number.
[49:47] » A working pool
>> Just a and it cuz I what I wanted to
[49:50] know from from
what what what I call my smart ladies
[49:54] give me this
information
[49:57] is what what would have cost if we just
gave a straight wage adjustment.
[50:01] And as I asked
to give us 2.5% so they came up with
[50:05] this so I could see what it was and I've
used that as a placeholder number. That
[50:09] number does not have to be exhausted. I
don't know what this court's going to do
[50:12] but I'm just saying that that's the
recommendation. It's not the whole
[50:16] recommendation
uh but it is the start.
[50:21] And
so what we're really trying to do is to
[50:25] come up with a starting number.
The idea would be that every couple of
[50:29] years
we get a salary study
[50:32] and we see where everyone is and if if
they've reached if there's if they're if
[50:36] they're
continuously just in the mid-range of
[50:40] employment
then they would probably stay there with
[50:42] some minor adjustments because that's
where the salary study is cuz we're
[50:45] trying to find out what is the market
rate here.
[50:49] Uh
if they're below then that would be it
[50:52] would be recommended more for the ones
that are low.
[50:55] So that this is not a compounding across
the board.
[50:59] This is meant to be individualized.
That's that's the purpose of it.
[51:04] Now
[51:07] you're probably asking yourself
why the heck did I do this? Well one
[51:12] we paid for a salary study, got it,
thought it was particularly good
[51:16] uh and we ignored it because we were in
the middle of the crisis.
[51:21] And so I wanted to blow the dust off of
it this year and see if we didn't have
[51:24] uh a running chance at trying to do what
I think is the right thing to do for our
[51:28] employees.
Now
[51:31] you may ask yourself
why am I championing the employees?
[51:36] Because you can't run county government
without
[51:40] and unlike municipalities that can
choose to be in existence or not in
[51:44] existence, counties are part of the
Texas Constitution and we are.
[51:49] And we have funded and unfunded mandates
with the SB 22 which helps fund
[51:56] the department department's needs and
offices needs.
[51:59] Uh and then we have those that are not
funded.
[52:02] Uh
and counties are at a distinct
[52:05] disadvantage
with our competitors.
[52:10] They are much more flexible and
can respond to market conditions much
[52:15] more quickly than we can.
And one of the things that I've come to
[52:19] the conclusion as a
50-plus year lawyer that specialized in
[52:25] real estate transactions and litigation.
[52:31] The price of dirt in Kerr County
is more expensive than the price of dirt
[52:36] just about anywhere you can find in this
whole part of the county.
[52:40] And what that means
uh
[52:43] and you heard me talk about existential
threats to the county.
[52:47] Uh
and when I talk about existential, I
[52:49] mean survival, existence. What happens
to us if we can't do this?
[52:54] What happens if we can't perform the
functions of government that are
[52:57] mandated by the Constitution?
What happens if we can't fund the
[53:02] the requirements that the legislature
puts on us
[53:05] uh to be able to perform that we're
supposed to be able to provide.
[53:10] Uh
If you look at where our employee base
[53:14] comes from
and I don't have the birthday card list.
[53:19] I think HR has the birthday card list.
Y'all don't know what's in that birthday
[53:22] card, right?
Just a little thing we do. Little
[53:25] personal notes from all of all five of
us
[53:27] that we send to everybody every
employee.
[53:30] » And they love them.
>> And and and they're kind of cornball,
[53:33] but uh they're handwritten. We write
write little notes on there.
[53:38] » Huh? Go on. Mine aren't cornball.
>> Yeah, yeah.
[53:41] » I've seen yours.
>> We've all seen each other's. It depends
[53:45] on who gets it first.
But uh
[53:48] I've I've turned these cards over and
made it
[53:50] anecdotal stuff
to see where the employees live.
[53:57] And believe it or not, over 50% of the
employees, mainly address,
[54:02] were outside Kerr County.
They can't even afford to live here.
[54:07] And I've been here
adding it up this morning driving
[54:10] driving in. 33 years I've lived in
Kerrville.
[54:13] And uh
I've gotten a pretty good feel
[54:17] for it.
[54:20] And property values here
are high
[54:23] because everybody wants to live here.
Supply and demand.
[54:26] It's a beautiful place.
If you're driving in either from the
[54:30] east or west, it really doesn't matter.
You're looking at over a mountain range
[54:33] in the valley.
Uh and we've got that that crystal clear
[54:38] Guadalupe River
uh
[54:40] flowing through the middle of it.
Everybody wants to live here.
[54:44] Uh and you think about what we pay for
our properties.
[54:47] Uh
the people that we're hiring can't
[54:49] afford to live here.
[54:53] We don't have We don't have uh the
public housing that we should. We don't
[54:57] have uh the rental housing that we
should.
[55:01] We don't.
And so they live
[55:04] in Bandera. They live in Fredericksburg.
They
[55:07] They live in one of these towns in
Comfort.
[55:10] And and if we don't take care of them,
if we're not competitive in being able
[55:15] to provide a living wage for those
people,
[55:19] then we're not going to have employees
to do the jobs that we have.
[55:23] And because the county is at the bottom
of the totem pole locally,
[55:26] we're going to be the first ones to
start losing employees. And what do we
[55:29] do when we can't replace them?
Uh and I don't want to single out uh
[55:34] Kelly and Road and Bridge, but we've had
open positions in road road and bridge
[55:38] now for how many years now, Don?
Four or five years?
[55:41] » two crews right now.
>> Yeah.
[55:43] » We train them in Texarkana.
>> Texarkana hires them away every time.
[55:48] Which and it's like clockwork.
And so you get them trained and
[55:52] Texarkana comes and takes them.
And I get I get to worrying about, you
[55:54] know, I'm looking over there at Courtney
and I'm going to come take his out.
[55:58] But but but we don't want that.
We want the people to be able to
[56:02] make a a a living wage here.
Because if we don't, then we're going to
[56:06] lose the ability to perform our
government functions.
[56:09] And if we do that,
uh then I think we have faith.
[56:14] So, my recipe for success here is
let's treat our help fairly.
[56:20] Let's give them uh a living wage.
Uh
[56:25] let's give them an opportunity to be
able to grow in their position and know
[56:29] that the better they get at what they
do,
[56:31] we'll have salary studies there to
confirm it. Uh and the more they the
[56:35] better they be compensated.
Uh
[56:38] Now, if if the decision is not to do
that,
[56:41] uh
that's the decision of this court
[56:43] and the input they get back from y'all,
from the public employees as well as the
[56:47] taxpayers and
[56:51] people that are active here in the
community.
[56:55] I'm just sounding the trumpet
because I see it coming.
[57:01] And if we don't do something,
then this is not going to be anything,
[57:05] it'll get worse,
and eventually get to a crisis
[57:08] situation.
Uh
[57:11] And so,
uh
[57:13] that's the way I'm putting together my
recommendation
[57:16] and I can
uh
[57:19] I get together with my smart ladies cuz
they're really good at this. We'll
[57:22] crunch the numbers and come back and I
will have a recommendation along these
[57:26] lines
uh ready.
[57:29] Be submitted What was it? August 13th?
Is that the new deadline I've got?
[57:34] To be submitted there.
And then uh
[57:37] we'll be able to get that on the agenda.
We'll get that plan right away uh so
[57:41] that we can deal with it. Uh
and then we'll just see where we go from
[57:45] there.
But that's that's kind of where I am
[57:47] with my recommendation.
[57:53] And uh
normally in in a commissioner's court
[57:58] meeting, I'll ask for input, but I can't
do that in a workshop because those
[58:01] aren't the rules.
You don't get public input.
[58:05] But I've tried to give you the
essential information for you to know
[58:09] where I'm coming from
uh and be able to talk knowledgeably
[58:13] with your respective commissioners uh as
to where they're coming from on it.
[58:18] Uh
and uh
[58:21] so I'll I'll just I'll just leave it at
that.
[58:24] So
I'll ask for any other observations or
[58:27] comments or questions that uh this is
your opportunity to drill me. So, drill.
[58:32] » Just one
one thing I want to make sure is that
[58:35] this year's flood has not changed any of
the budget requests.
[58:38] » It is not.
>> And one thing I thought in particular
[58:40] was and we need to make sure is JP3's
vehicle.
[58:44] I saw JP3's vehicle was on there. I want
to make sure it's not the same vehicle
[58:47] that just got flooded out.
Uh which he's going to get insurance.
[58:56] I'm sorry. You know what I mean. Yeah.
Paul Gonzales.
[58:59] Possible three. So, that's not the same
vehicle.
[59:03] That's in the request.
>> He's also received a grant for a replace
[59:07] for a new vehicle.
>> Right.
[59:09] So, I remember there's a grant for new
vehicle and he's going to get another
[59:13] vehicle replaced by insurance money.
So, we taking that into account
[59:20] with that vehicle request that's on
there?
[59:22] » I
I I'd have to send that up.
[59:23] » I think he owes you
[59:28] which that's to make sure.
>> That's an answer that that needs to be
[59:31] provided.
[59:34] It's not the vehicle itself.
>> That's his equipment for his inside of
[59:39] the vehicle.
>> Okay.
[59:41] » The grant does cover some equipment, but
not all of it.
[59:44] » Well, it's just a it's a fair question.
>> One small thing.
[59:47] » And then I and I will get an answer to
it and be able to explain it.
[59:51] » Fair enough.
>> I think
[59:55] » Yes.
>> Also,
[59:58] one step of the plan of the whirling
study getting it implemented is once you
[1:00:04] get your plan figured out,
you would ask Sylvia and I who would
[1:00:08] meet with the different department heads
and commissioners to
[1:00:12] kind of go over what that detail would
look like.
[1:00:16] So,
um we meet with whirling tomorrow
[1:00:19] morning, and so hopefully after that
we'll be able to move forward
[1:00:25] with putting these dollars where
whirling suggests.
[1:00:33] » One thing I did not mention is that my
proposed budget
[1:00:37] for elected officials
uh
[1:00:41] proposes that we keep the same rate that
we've been paid.
[1:00:45] I'm not I'm not recommending any raises
for elected officials.
[1:00:52] Okay.
Thank you for coming. Uh I hope this is
[1:00:56] helpful.
Uh
[1:00:59] and thanks to to to Lewis, his
organization for doing this. That will
[1:01:03] be posted on the website, so if you want
to go back and look at any of it,
[1:01:06] you should be able to track it down.
[1:01:10] So,
with that then we stand adjourned.