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Okay. Well, it's 9:00, so we'll call
this special meeting of the

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commissioner's court order here on the
second day of September, 9:00 in the

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courtroom. Everybody please stand for
the pledge of prayer.

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Heavenly Father, I just come to you.
Thank you, Lord, for many blessings,

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Lord. So we just uh ask if you would
send some money

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[snorts]

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and
we just ask you right now that you

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our president
take care of him or to give him wisdom

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to make decisions
is good for the country.

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else we that we need
to to prot

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your your guidel

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Amen.

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God for it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liberty and justice for

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all.

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Number one is opening up the Titus
County 2027 uh proposed budget hearing

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and then we'll move on to number two
which is the public comments and I have

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Mrs. Lily Weatherford to speak.

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Make sure that's on you. There you go.
Good.

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» Good morning, commissioners and judge.
I wanted to speak this morning about

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hopefully opening up some dialogue
between yourselves and the residents

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about the timing of these meetings. I
know they have likely been held at 9:00

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a.m. on weekdays long before any of
y'all took office and that it wasn't a

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personal choice you've made, but I
respectfully ask that you consider

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adjusting the time and maybe even the
day to better suit the residents so they

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might be more involved and attend
Commissioner's Court. I've heard several

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people say that they just can't make it
work 9:00 a.m. on a weekday and they

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would have to take off work and they
have to save those days for emergencies

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or other personal matters. Even when
issues they really cared about were

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going to be the topic, they couldn't
come. Uh my husband couldn't be here

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today due to work. I'm not claiming that
court is being held early in the morning

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as an effort to keep things quiet or
keep residents from speaking up or

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impacting decisions, but I do think it
would be a show of good faith to

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consider adjusting the schedule. uh
maybe bringing it to a vote or creating

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a poll residents can fill out. I'm sure
having it at the current day and time

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makes y'all's jobs easier and office
work runs smoothly, filing the

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paperwork, scheduling the rest of your
workday and the rest of the week around

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it and what decisions are made. But I
think maybe having people more involved

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in their local government is more
important and I really think that might

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happen or at least be a noticeable start
if timing were to be adjusted.

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As far as discussing salaries and
proposed budget, [snorts] uh my own

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opinion on is on this is every year
taxes go up and those numbers are looked

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at and budget build around it. And every
year, excuse me, every year there's an

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opportunity to say we didn't make enough
to do everything. Taxes should go up

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again. In households, that's not an
option. You budget based on what you

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[clears throat] already have and cut the
fat where you can. And in bigger things

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like a county, there is always excess
that can be cut. and I asked that to be

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looked at and considered when making a
budget. This is not just money for a

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county. This is every individual's
hard-earned dollars and we don't have a

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lot of say in where that money goes, but
that's the purpose of these meetings.

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And I am saying that I would like to see
where it goes and ask to cut what is

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absolutely what isn't absolutely
necessary.

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Uh I also wanted to bring up that many
people have learned and been concerned

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about the Muslim prayer center outside
town and the community center breaking

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ground. I'm not defending or condemning
it, but I wanted to say I know you

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cannot legally deny something like that
if all proper permits and paperwork are

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filled. Um, and that it would be against
the Constitution to deny it. Just wanted

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to say that because you no doubt have
gotten calls and emails about it or will

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at some point because of concerned
people. Again, I won't say whether I

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believe those concerns are valid or not,
just that as far as the laws of this

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state and country go, you have to
approve any religious building that is

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being filed properly. Thank you. Thank
you, Miss Li.

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All right. Number three, conduct public
hearing of the 2027 proposed budget. Uh

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we do have that uh in our hands here and
the net gives us all a copy of that that

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we voted on the other day. Uh, Miss Lily
saying that not to not to go to

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answering her questions, but in our
budget this year, it's about 900,000

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less than last year's budget that we
planned for last year. So, we moved from

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uh 184. It was going to 17,000
17,333,711

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with the added addition of our uh
insurance, which is $166,612,

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which was a increase. We had increased
it in that budget uh but also uh got

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more increase than we were expecting. So
with that being said that moved our

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budget to 17,500,323

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which is still 99
95

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920,000
less than it was the year before.

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Any

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questions on on what Nette gave y'all as
far as Scotty broke down there what the

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payroll was? Uh we'll go on further and
and do an amendment to this budget

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because of some things that we did left
out just for transparency of one of the

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one of the sheriff's departments uh
spots was some confusion on that and

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then also the insurance uh to add into
that so it would be up to date on that.

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Heat. Heat.

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Do I have a motion to approve the
budget?

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» I make a motion to approve the budget.
>> You can't. We consider we go down to

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number four. Set the salaries.
>> We go to the salaries. Go to the

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salaries.
for the salaries. Number four, consider

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and possibly approve setting the salary
expenses and other allowances for

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elected county officials. Those are not
any changes in those changes.

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I'll make a motion to set the salaries
and expenses for the elected county

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officials.
>> Have a motion made by Commissioner

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Mitchell to set the salaries and
expenses for other allowances for

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elected county officials.

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» A second by Commissioner Parker. All
those in favor? I.

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» All those opposed I.
>> Carries 3 to one. Number

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five, consider and possibly approve the
amended proposed budget amendments.

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Commission Ned, if you want to speak on
those three things.

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The proposed budget amendments totaled
$166,612.

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It was an increase that we got at the
last minute for our medical and dental

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insurance, which makes up about $100,000
of that. We also had a small reduction

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uh because we got an increase um in our
indigent defense which I went ahead and

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built into the new budget. Um we also
had a couple of corrections for the

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district clerk's office and we had to
add a position for the sheriff's office

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and those are the total adjustments we
have for the budget.

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Motion to approve the amendment.
>> Got a motion made by Commissioner Parker

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to approve the amendment to the proposed
budget.

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» Second.
>> Second by Commissioner Mitchell. All

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those in favor?
>> I.

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» All those opposed? I
>> 3 to one.

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Number seven. To conclude the public
hearing of the 2027

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proposed budget.
Consider and possibly adopt this number

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six first. Considering possibly adopt
the 202627

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budget.
This is where we need a motion for it.

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» I'll make a motion to approve it.
>> Got a motion made by Commissioner

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Mitchell to approve the 2627 county
budget.

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Second by Commissioner Parker. All those
in favor.

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» All those opposed. carries 3 to one.
Number seven, conclusion of the public

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hearing. This is concludes the proposed
budget hearing.

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So now we'll move on to the
[clears throat] public hearing of the

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tax notice. Conducted a public hearing
of the 2026 total tax rate of 40 41300

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which is less than the voter approval
rate which is 4343.

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And then how much we got in fund balance
now? How much do we have in fund

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balance?

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So, how much do we how much do we
legally have to keep in our fund balance

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at all time?
Well, 50% of your expenses is a standard

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um but%

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expenses.

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I make a motion to approve the voters's
approval rate.

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» Got a motion made by Commissioner
Mitchell to approve the voter approval

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rate, which is less than the voter
approval rate of 41

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4130, but it's not welded on that yet.
We don't vote on that yet.

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We're doing
>> the public hearing.

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No more comments. We'll end the hearing.

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Now you can make the proposals over
there. I'll make a motion to uh for the

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voter approval rate. Got a motion made
by

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item.
>> Number nine, considering possibly

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approve the maintenance and operations
tax rate of 37130.

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» Never need a motion on that.
>> I'll make a motion to approve it. Got a

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motion made by Commissioner Mitchell to
approve the approved maintenance and

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operations tax rate of 37.1371300

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0.

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» Second by Commissioner Parker. All those
in favor I. All those opposed I carry

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three to three to two with me voting for
consider and possibly approve the debt

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service tax rate of 041700.

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I'll make a motion to approve it. Got a
motion made by Commissioner Mitchell to

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approve the debt service rate of 0.0470.

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» Second by Commissioner Parker. All those
in favor?

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» I.
>> All those opposed.

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» I I vote I. So pass three to two.
Public comments.

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No public comments. So we'll move on to
number 12. Conclusion of the public

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hearing of the 20 26 27 tax rate.

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Any comments?

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like to wish Commissioner uh Hartzman a
happy birthday today. It is his

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birthday, so he got to vote on the tax
rate on his birthday. So, a special

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welcome to the birthday party. Uh with
that being said, uh we do need some some

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rain in a severe way. We ask that you
still take precaution on burning out in

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the county. Also, we want to pray for
our people down in South Texas as

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they're uh getting the brunt of the
storm down there. Hope that all is safe

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and well down there and hopefully we
will get some rain from that. With all

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that being said, I'll entertain a motion
to adjurnn.

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» I'll make a motion to adjourn.
>> Got a motion to adjurnn by Commissioner

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Mitchell. Second.
>> Second by Commissioner Parchman. All

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those in favor? I.
>> All those opposed, we will adjourn at

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9:15. Thank you.