[0:05] Okay. Well, it's 9:00, so we'll call
this special meeting of the
[0:07] commissioner's court order here on the
second day of September, 9:00 in the
[0:11] courtroom. Everybody please stand for
the pledge of prayer.
[0:18] Heavenly Father, I just come to you.
Thank you, Lord, for many blessings,
[0:22] Lord. So we just uh ask if you would
send some money
[0:27] [snorts]
[0:29] and
we just ask you right now that you
[0:36] our president
take care of him or to give him wisdom
[0:42] to make decisions
is good for the country.
[0:49] else we that we need
to to prot
[0:58] your your guidel
[1:02] Amen.
[1:14] God for it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liberty and justice for
[1:21] all.
[1:28] Number one is opening up the Titus
County 2027 uh proposed budget hearing
[1:34] and then we'll move on to number two
which is the public comments and I have
[1:38] Mrs. Lily Weatherford to speak.
[1:45] Make sure that's on you. There you go.
Good.
[1:50] » Good morning, commissioners and judge.
I wanted to speak this morning about
[1:54] hopefully opening up some dialogue
between yourselves and the residents
[1:57] about the timing of these meetings. I
know they have likely been held at 9:00
[2:01] a.m. on weekdays long before any of
y'all took office and that it wasn't a
[2:04] personal choice you've made, but I
respectfully ask that you consider
[2:08] adjusting the time and maybe even the
day to better suit the residents so they
[2:12] might be more involved and attend
Commissioner's Court. I've heard several
[2:16] people say that they just can't make it
work 9:00 a.m. on a weekday and they
[2:20] would have to take off work and they
have to save those days for emergencies
[2:23] or other personal matters. Even when
issues they really cared about were
[2:26] going to be the topic, they couldn't
come. Uh my husband couldn't be here
[2:30] today due to work. I'm not claiming that
court is being held early in the morning
[2:34] as an effort to keep things quiet or
keep residents from speaking up or
[2:38] impacting decisions, but I do think it
would be a show of good faith to
[2:42] consider adjusting the schedule. uh
maybe bringing it to a vote or creating
[2:46] a poll residents can fill out. I'm sure
having it at the current day and time
[2:51] makes y'all's jobs easier and office
work runs smoothly, filing the
[2:54] paperwork, scheduling the rest of your
workday and the rest of the week around
[2:58] it and what decisions are made. But I
think maybe having people more involved
[3:02] in their local government is more
important and I really think that might
[3:06] happen or at least be a noticeable start
if timing were to be adjusted.
[3:10] As far as discussing salaries and
proposed budget, [snorts] uh my own
[3:14] opinion on is on this is every year
taxes go up and those numbers are looked
[3:19] at and budget build around it. And every
year, excuse me, every year there's an
[3:26] opportunity to say we didn't make enough
to do everything. Taxes should go up
[3:29] again. In households, that's not an
option. You budget based on what you
[3:33] [clears throat] already have and cut the
fat where you can. And in bigger things
[3:37] like a county, there is always excess
that can be cut. and I asked that to be
[3:41] looked at and considered when making a
budget. This is not just money for a
[3:44] county. This is every individual's
hard-earned dollars and we don't have a
[3:48] lot of say in where that money goes, but
that's the purpose of these meetings.
[3:52] And I am saying that I would like to see
where it goes and ask to cut what is
[3:56] absolutely what isn't absolutely
necessary.
[4:00] Uh I also wanted to bring up that many
people have learned and been concerned
[4:04] about the Muslim prayer center outside
town and the community center breaking
[4:08] ground. I'm not defending or condemning
it, but I wanted to say I know you
[4:12] cannot legally deny something like that
if all proper permits and paperwork are
[4:16] filled. Um, and that it would be against
the Constitution to deny it. Just wanted
[4:21] to say that because you no doubt have
gotten calls and emails about it or will
[4:25] at some point because of concerned
people. Again, I won't say whether I
[4:29] believe those concerns are valid or not,
just that as far as the laws of this
[4:32] state and country go, you have to
approve any religious building that is
[4:35] being filed properly. Thank you. Thank
you, Miss Li.
[4:45] All right. Number three, conduct public
hearing of the 2027 proposed budget. Uh
[4:51] we do have that uh in our hands here and
the net gives us all a copy of that that
[4:55] we voted on the other day. Uh, Miss Lily
saying that not to not to go to
[5:00] answering her questions, but in our
budget this year, it's about 900,000
[5:04] less than last year's budget that we
planned for last year. So, we moved from
[5:10] uh 184. It was going to 17,000
17,333,711
[5:17] with the added addition of our uh
insurance, which is $166,612,
[5:24] which was a increase. We had increased
it in that budget uh but also uh got
[5:29] more increase than we were expecting. So
with that being said that moved our
[5:32] budget to 17,500,323
[5:37] which is still 99
95
[5:41] 920,000
less than it was the year before.
[5:47] Any
[5:50] questions on on what Nette gave y'all as
far as Scotty broke down there what the
[5:55] payroll was? Uh we'll go on further and
and do an amendment to this budget
[6:00] because of some things that we did left
out just for transparency of one of the
[6:04] one of the sheriff's departments uh
spots was some confusion on that and
[6:09] then also the insurance uh to add into
that so it would be up to date on that.
[6:15] Heat. Heat.
[6:51] Do I have a motion to approve the
budget?
[6:54] » I make a motion to approve the budget.
>> You can't. We consider we go down to
[6:58] number four. Set the salaries.
>> We go to the salaries. Go to the
[7:04] salaries.
for the salaries. Number four, consider
[7:08] and possibly approve setting the salary
expenses and other allowances for
[7:12] elected county officials. Those are not
any changes in those changes.
[7:30] I'll make a motion to set the salaries
and expenses for the elected county
[7:36] officials.
>> Have a motion made by Commissioner
[7:38] Mitchell to set the salaries and
expenses for other allowances for
[7:42] elected county officials.
[7:48] » A second by Commissioner Parker. All
those in favor? I.
[7:52] » All those opposed I.
>> Carries 3 to one. Number
[8:00] five, consider and possibly approve the
amended proposed budget amendments.
[8:03] Commission Ned, if you want to speak on
those three things.
[8:09] The proposed budget amendments totaled
$166,612.
[8:14] It was an increase that we got at the
last minute for our medical and dental
[8:18] insurance, which makes up about $100,000
of that. We also had a small reduction
[8:24] uh because we got an increase um in our
indigent defense which I went ahead and
[8:29] built into the new budget. Um we also
had a couple of corrections for the
[8:33] district clerk's office and we had to
add a position for the sheriff's office
[8:37] and those are the total adjustments we
have for the budget.
[8:48] Motion to approve the amendment.
>> Got a motion made by Commissioner Parker
[8:52] to approve the amendment to the proposed
budget.
[8:54] » Second.
>> Second by Commissioner Mitchell. All
[8:57] those in favor?
>> I.
[8:59] » All those opposed? I
>> 3 to one.
[9:04] Number seven. To conclude the public
hearing of the 2027
[9:09] proposed budget.
Consider and possibly adopt this number
[9:13] six first. Considering possibly adopt
the 202627
[9:18] budget.
This is where we need a motion for it.
[9:25] » I'll make a motion to approve it.
>> Got a motion made by Commissioner
[9:28] Mitchell to approve the 2627 county
budget.
[9:37] Second by Commissioner Parker. All those
in favor.
[9:41] » All those opposed. carries 3 to one.
Number seven, conclusion of the public
[9:47] hearing. This is concludes the proposed
budget hearing.
[9:54] So now we'll move on to the
[clears throat] public hearing of the
[9:57] tax notice. Conducted a public hearing
of the 2026 total tax rate of 40 41300
[10:06] which is less than the voter approval
rate which is 4343.
[10:16] And then how much we got in fund balance
now? How much do we have in fund
[10:21] balance?
[10:42] So, how much do we how much do we
legally have to keep in our fund balance
[10:46] at all time?
Well, 50% of your expenses is a standard
[10:53] um but%
[11:00] expenses.
[11:24] I make a motion to approve the voters's
approval rate.
[11:28] » Got a motion made by Commissioner
Mitchell to approve the voter approval
[11:31] rate, which is less than the voter
approval rate of 41
[11:36] 4130, but it's not welded on that yet.
We don't vote on that yet.
[11:42] We're doing
>> the public hearing.
[11:58] No more comments. We'll end the hearing.
[12:04] Now you can make the proposals over
there. I'll make a motion to uh for the
[12:10] voter approval rate. Got a motion made
by
[12:18] item.
>> Number nine, considering possibly
[12:21] approve the maintenance and operations
tax rate of 37130.
[12:30] » Never need a motion on that.
>> I'll make a motion to approve it. Got a
[12:34] motion made by Commissioner Mitchell to
approve the approved maintenance and
[12:37] operations tax rate of 37.1371300
[12:43] 0.
[12:48] » Second by Commissioner Parker. All those
in favor I. All those opposed I carry
[12:56] three to three to two with me voting for
consider and possibly approve the debt
[13:03] service tax rate of 041700.
[13:21] I'll make a motion to approve it. Got a
motion made by Commissioner Mitchell to
[13:24] approve the debt service rate of 0.0470.
[13:36] » Second by Commissioner Parker. All those
in favor?
[13:39] » I.
>> All those opposed.
[13:42] » I I vote I. So pass three to two.
Public comments.
[13:52] No public comments. So we'll move on to
number 12. Conclusion of the public
[13:57] hearing of the 20 26 27 tax rate.
[14:08] Any comments?
[14:13] like to wish Commissioner uh Hartzman a
happy birthday today. It is his
[14:17] birthday, so he got to vote on the tax
rate on his birthday. So, a special
[14:21] welcome to the birthday party. Uh with
that being said, uh we do need some some
[14:27] rain in a severe way. We ask that you
still take precaution on burning out in
[14:31] the county. Also, we want to pray for
our people down in South Texas as
[14:35] they're uh getting the brunt of the
storm down there. Hope that all is safe
[14:39] and well down there and hopefully we
will get some rain from that. With all
[14:43] that being said, I'll entertain a motion
to adjurnn.
[14:46] » I'll make a motion to adjourn.
>> Got a motion to adjurnn by Commissioner
[14:49] Mitchell. Second.
>> Second by Commissioner Parchman. All
[14:54] those in favor? I.
>> All those opposed, we will adjourn at
[14:58] 9:15. Thank you.