1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Budget Workshop 10 Wednesday, July 23, 2008 11 9:00 a.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: PAT TINLEY, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 WILLIAM "BILL" WILLIAMS, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X July 23, 2008 2 PAGE Review and discuss FY 2008-09 Budgets and 3 fiscal, capital expenditure and personnel matters related thereto, for various county 4 departments, including, but not limited to the following departments: 5 Organizational Development 3 6 Step and Grade Schedules 5 Non-Departmental 11 7 Commissioners' Court 21 Information Technology 31 8 District Courts 49 District Attorneys 70 9 County Judge 101 County Court 105 10 Tax Assessor 107 11 --- Adjourned 126 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Wednesday, July 23, 2008, at 9:00 a.m., a budget 2 workshop of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's go ahead and commence 8 our Commissioners Court workshop scheduled for this date and 9 time, Wednesday, July 23rd, 2008, at 9 a.m. It is a bit past 10 that right now. The agenda item is to review and discuss 11 FY '08-'09 budgets and fiscal capital expenditure and 12 personnel matters related thereto for various county 13 departments, including, but not limited to, the following 14 departments. And the listing, organizational development, 15 which, of course, is not a department, nor is step and grade 16 schedule. Then we have Nondepartmental, Commissioners Court, 17 I.T., District Courts, District Attorneys, County Judge, 18 County Court, and Tax Assessor. The organizational 19 development, Ms. Hyde, what, if anything, do you have to 20 report to us on organizational development? 21 MS. HYDE: This one's real short. What we want to 22 try to do is more in-house training, so when we're looking at 23 the budget on the training, we're trying to do more in-house 24 with -- with the Auditor and myself. She's the money lady, 25 so she can do the money. I can focus more with the training 7-23-08 bwk 4 1 portion where we can set up actual trainings where people can 2 come in and be trained. So, we've also got it set up where 3 John's put it on the computers for, like, Excel and Word, so 4 that they can be in their office at their desk; if approved, 5 they can go through some of this training -- computer-based 6 training, which is a lot cheaper than sending them to San 7 Antone to take a class or to take classes. It's a lot 8 cheaper, and we can do it here in-house. But it -- I think 9 that most of the folks in the courthouse have agreed that we 10 can do this now. We can -- we can set it up. Yes, sir? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is this set up -- I think I 12 know the answer, but I'll ask -- that for Commissioners' 13 training and District Clerk training, all this other 14 training, that we can -- all these conferences we go to, that 15 we can do some of that in-house? 16 MS. HYDE: There's some that you -- from what we've 17 been able to get back from the state, from TAC and 18 T.C.D.R.S., some of that you can take in-house, but if you're 19 doing CEU credits, you have to go somewhere -- or it has to 20 be an online approved CEU credit course, which would cost you 21 less than actually going. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are there very many, if any, 23 online CEU -- 24 MS. HYDE: There are some. Not as many, because I 25 think they want the folks to come and exchange ideas and -- 7-23-08 bwk 5 1 and things in the conferences. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Spend money. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, exchange their money 4 is what they want. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: A way to keep saying spend 6 money. 7 MS. UECKER: We've done a couple online. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's a few things. We had 9 one not long ago. 10 MS. HYDE: What we can do is, we can set it up 11 where we, like, put it on the H.R. page, where people can hit 12 it, "Approved courses." We can do that, can't we, John? 13 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, that will be good. Anything 15 else in that particular sub-category? 16 (Ms. Hyde shook her head negatively.) 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Where are we on step and 18 grade? 19 MS. HYDE: Here's y'all's updates. You asked for 20 additional counties on the -- so you can throw the old ones 21 away. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He controls that screen? 23 (Discussion off the record.) 24 MS. HYDE: Here's the current step and grade, and 25 here's the proposed. And it says it at the top. That way, 7-23-08 bwk 6 1 if y'all take my staples out that I know that Commissioner 2 Letz doesn't like, 'cause it's on the wrong side, you can 3 still use them. And they -- this is the proposed. One's the 4 proposed and one's the current. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: One's -- say that again? 6 MS. HYDE: At the top, one of them is the current. 7 It says H.R. Transitional Grade and Step Schedule. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 9 MS. HYDE: And then the other one is proposed, 10 moving the four grades down. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Got you. Proposed. 12 MS. HYDE: Are there spares? 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We're supposed to have 14 three different documents here? 15 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Proposed, okay. 17 MS. HYDE: Do you want one? 18 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 19 MS. UECKER: Yeah. 20 (Discussion off the record.) 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you want to give us a little 22 summary of what all this means, Ms. Hyde? 23 MS. HYDE: The current step and grade is what we 24 use, and was approved last year. The proposed is moving it 25 four steps down, which is 10 percent, off of the -- off the 7-23-08 bwk 7 1 position and step and grade. So, basically, what we did is, 2 you look at the -- the current. If you look at a Grade 13, a 3 13-1, it's 22,171.68, and then the proposed -- all we did was 4 move them down four -- four grades down. So, that new one 5 becomes 24,472.08. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: A 13, in effect, became a 7 17? 8 MS. HYDE: It changes to a 15, one, two, three, 9 four. Each of the steps is 2.5, an increase of 2.5. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see it, okay. 11 MS. HYDE: And that way, we're not messing up our 12 step and grade. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: And the first document that you gave 14 us, the comparison is for informational purposes, of where we 15 are relative to -- 16 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Or what you believe to be comparable 18 counties? 19 MS. HYDE: Yes, sir. Y'all had asked me to update 20 the one I gave you last week to add Kendall, Gillespie, and 21 Bandera Counties, and they're on the second page. And I made 22 it bigger so that we can all read it. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 24 MS. HYDE: Jeannie helped last week by expanding it 25 out, but us old folks, we still -- it was hard. 7-23-08 bwk 8 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Interesting that Kendall 2 County's budget is basically the same as ours. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Which means their tax base has 5 really grown. The tax rate's higher; budget is the same. 6 It's -- 7 MS. HYDE: There's been several -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- 20 percent less population. 9 MS. HYDE: Several counties. After you guys asked 10 me to go back and look, there's been several counties that 11 have moved a lot. They jumped from the 20 -- you know, the 12 cutoff is 24,999 in population, and they have jumped to the 13 50,000-plus. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Interesting how -- I'm kind of 15 surprised at the size of Bandera County's total budget. 16 MS. HYDE: Right. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: They've had a lot of growth 18 down there. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They've had a huge tax rate to 20 get there. I mean, they do have a lot of growth; they've had 21 a lot of problems because of that. But the tax rate -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 68 cents a hundred. 23 MS. HARGIS: I think that's because of the jail. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The jail? 25 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm, the new jail. 7-23-08 bwk 9 1 MS. HYDE: I just put the tax rates on there, 2 because last year y'all said it would have been nice to have 3 that so you can kind of compare. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions for Ms. Hyde? 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good information. Thank you. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. And the proposed 7 numbers are not in any of the budget numbers right now? 8 MS. HARGIS: Yes, they are. 9 MS. HYDE: Oh, you put them in there? 10 MS. HARGIS: They're in. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're in. 12 MS. HYDE: I'm sorry. 13 MS. HARGIS: Most of them are, not all of them, but 14 as many as I could get in. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Step and grade totals in? 16 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Those are the ones -- you included 18 the one on the proposed step and grade, the one that you do 19 have plugged in? 20 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, I have most of the departments. 21 I still have a couple to go. But -- and I'm still checking 22 to make sure, because I have to go back and check each one of 23 them, because I have to check each person's step and grade to 24 go up. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7-23-08 bwk 10 1 MS. HARGIS: But they're all there -- pretty much 2 in there. If you look at the summary today as compared to 3 Friday, it's increased. I also changed the -- the folks from 4 13's to 14's that we talked about. There are 25 -- 5 approximately 25 of those people, so they're in there. So, 6 if you pulled up the recommended budget -- AR recommended 7 budget, they're in there. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me see if I understand this. 9 MS. HARGIS: Okay. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Where we the have folks in a Grade 11 13 -- 12 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: You moved to a 14? 14 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: And then you added the step and 16 grade adjustment that we're looking at here, which, in 17 essence, moved them up four steps? 18 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So, those that were 13's -- 20 MS. HARGIS: If they were a 13-2, they're now a 21 14-2, and then they got the increase that a 14-2 would have 22 gotten. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 MS. HARGIS: So, the average on those is about 15 25 percent. 7-23-08 bwk 11 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 2 MS. HARGIS: To get those folks up to what they 3 should be. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: To get them off of that lowest level 5 that maybe -- I think someone noted eligibility for -- for 6 federal assistance. 7 MS. HARGIS: And food stamps. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Bill? 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You have to cut your volume 10 down there, Commissioner. 11 MS. HYDE: Mute it. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Are we ready to go to 13 Nondepartmental, gentlemen? Okay. Let's bring up 14 Nondepartmental over there, Ken. 15 MR. RUARK: I'm in Commissioners Court budget code. 16 MS. HARGIS: I think you -- 17 MR. RUARK: Is that the one you want me to be in, 18 Judge? Or do you want me to be in the -- 19 MS. HARGIS: I think you need to go in the 20 recommended one, Ken. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got -- 22 MS. HARGIS: To see what the recommendations are. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I -- can we -- I don't know 24 what's going to be easier. Couldn't we -- you've got the 25 comparison. 7-23-08 bwk 12 1 MS. HARGIS: Go into the recommended, 'cause 2 otherwise they won't see the changes that have been made. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm curious. There's no way -- 4 MS. HARGIS: Unfortunately, even when I make a 5 change, like, if it was something -- I have to change all 6 three budgets. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's -- this is just thinking 8 out loud. Long-term, this screen is just critical, from my 9 standpoint, that we're looking at. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: The history. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The history page. Because if 12 we don't know what it was last year, we just don't have the 13 reference as to what we're looking at. 14 MR. RUARK: Here's what we've done. If you look, 15 here's the AR recommended budget. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I can't read that. I mean, 17 I can read the Judge's, 'cause I'm sitting next to him, but 18 Bruce can't -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I can't read it. 20 MR. RUARK: Well, you can run the report and bring 21 it up and down. That's just -- 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Can we bring it up on our 23 screen? 24 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 25 MR. RUARK: Sure. 7-23-08 bwk 13 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: How? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then we lose this, though. 3 MS. HARGIS: Minimize that. Minimize that screen, 4 Bruce. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This one? 6 MS. HARGIS: Yes. If you minimize that, then go to 7 reports, okay? Go to report generator. Go to budget 8 reports. Go to AR recommended, right there. Administrative 9 recommended. Okay. Then go to selected funds. Then click 10 10, and then change this date to... 11 (Discussion off the record.) 12 MS. HARGIS: Has everybody got their screen big 13 enough so they can see it? 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Got it. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you change my worker's comp? 16 I'm showing 145 here, based upon the requested, and this is 17 showing 157. 18 MS. HARGIS: I may have changed it because that's 19 what came in. That's the current premium. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, right now -- 21 MS. HARGIS: 157. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- we're the same. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Looks like a default number. 24 MS. HARGIS: That's requested. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I understand. 7-23-08 bwk 14 1 MS. HARGIS: You didn't put that in. Then we 2 changed it to 157. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: I put in 145 based on the request. 4 MS. HARGIS: Are you in the recommended? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Recommended shows 145. 7 MS. HARGIS: This says 157, but it's not coming 8 forward. I'll have to change that one. I didn't change it 9 since you changed it, no. 10 (Discussion off the record.) 11 MS. HARGIS: You have both the columns, so you 12 don't really need to go back to this screen, okay? You 13 really don't need to go back to that screen at all, because 14 the requested column is the original. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 16 MS. HARGIS: And then recommended should be 17 whatever the Judge said. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, the one that's -- okay. 19 So, the requested, that's where the -- 20 MS. HARGIS: Is the original. But -- 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's still matching, and -- 22 MS. HARGIS: This is the changed budget, the one 23 that's been moving. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. So we don't need this. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm having a hard time figuring out 7-23-08 bwk 15 1 why these -- what's happened. These numbers are being -- I 2 don't know where these numbers came from. 3 MS. HARGIS: Judge, I need to see what you pulled 4 up. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Okay. Here's the report 6 generator. Here's requested. 7 MS. HARGIS: But I need to go back to see how you 8 actually pulled up the report. If you put in -- if you put 9 in current budget, it will pull that up, and I think that's 10 what you did. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: On this report you're talking about? 12 MS. HARGIS: Yes. So, can you go back and pull 13 that one up for me again? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Want me to just cancel it 15 out? 16 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oops. 19 MS. HARGIS: Excuse me. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 21 MS. HARGIS: Let me look at it, because I know that 22 Bruce's is right. So, Bruce, could you go to 109? Let me 23 see. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 (Discussion off the record.) 7-23-08 bwk 16 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Nondepartmental. All 2 right. Are you there? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I guess. 4 MS. HARGIS: Judge, you pulled up the wrong one. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I pulled up the wrong one? 6 MS. HARGIS: Yours is right. And I think -- I 7 think you did too. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pulled up the wrong one? 9 MS. HARGIS: Yeah. Let me show you what you have 10 to do. You're going to have to get all the way out of 11 everything. Okay. Go to administrative recommended reports. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: That's budget -- no, that's budget. 13 MS. HARGIS: That's right. That's the report you 14 want to see. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. All right. 16 MS. HARGIS: Okay? Say okay. You didn't change 17 this. If you don't change that, you won't get your changes 18 up. There you go. Administrative recommended? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: No, that's recommended. 20 MS. HARGIS: Administrative recommended. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 MS. HARGIS: Just say okay. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 24 MS. HARGIS: So, Jonathan, yours is wrong too. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, they got me -- 7-23-08 bwk 17 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm the one that got him in there. 2 I'm the one that got him in there. 3 MS. HARGIS: If you don't change that little thing 4 down there, it won't show you your changes. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I need AR. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: But you can't make any 8 changes on this one. 9 MS. HARGIS: No. No. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I got to go back to the 11 other screen. 12 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, but Ken can make the changes. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How much of all this goes on 14 the record? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Sounds like all of it; I've 16 been watching her fingers. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: She's going to wear out by 18 8:30 -- or 9:30. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We haven't got through the 20 technical part yet. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Haven't got it turned on 22 yet. 23 MS. HARGIS: Let me check to make sure yours is 24 right. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely, we're right. My 7-23-08 bwk 18 1 gosh, name me one time we've been wrong on this end of the 2 table. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What, do you think we have 4 idiots on this end? (Laughter.) 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is there a -- 6 MR. RUARK: Now, this I can show you. That's per 7 page. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 MR. RUARK: Keep going. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It's Commissioner Letz 11 who's having a problem. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can I just put the page? 13 MR. RUARK: You can go right here, up here where 14 this slide is. Just slide the slider; that's easier for you. 15 MS. HARGIS: No, it just does one page at a time. 16 (Discussion off the record.) 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: At this rate, we'll be 18 doing next year's budget year after next budget. 19 MS. HARGIS: Well, this is the only glitch we have. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But this one right here moves 21 all the pages, so if I want to get to Page 200, I can use 22 this thing? 23 MR. RUARK: Yeah. 24 (Discussion off the record.) 25 MR. RUARK: All right. Buster, are you all right? 7-23-08 bwk 19 1 Everybody all set? 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Sorry about the technical glitch, 4 folks. Now maybe we can move on. 5 (Discussion off the record.) 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This one, recommended is 7 approximately $35,000. Looks like that is due to an increase 8 in professional services. And -- 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How do you get 35,000? 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Autopsy and inquest. Is that 12 correct, Judge? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you got an increase in 14 contingency, you got an increase in professional services, 15 and -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Autopsies and inquest. 17 MS. HARGIS: You went down a little bit on the 18 autopsies, 'cause you had 25 in there. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: No, it's up -- it's up by 5,000. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Year-to-date actual is 5,500. 21 MS. HARGIS: Well, we're over this year. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: That's the reason it went up to 55. 23 It was 50 for the current year. I went up to 55. 24 MS. HARGIS: But it's 2,250 per -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Audit was increased also. 7-23-08 bwk 20 1 MS. HARGIS: The audit is increased, because we 2 have that actuarial audit. That will go back down once we 3 get that actuarial audit done. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: So you're right, Commissioner. You 5 zeroed in on the areas. 6 MS. HARGIS: The professional fees, we have a 7 little bit of play there, but we've also got, as you recall, 8 the investment contract, and she didn't charge us for the 9 first nine months, 'cause I did those, so now she's starting 10 to charge us. So, we -- we need that for that, as well as 11 any other engineering or anything that we might want to hire. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now, why, on the -- I'm looking 13 at the '08 projected. Year-end shows zero. 14 MS. HARGIS: Zero for what category? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Independent audit. It shows 16 the actual is 30, but projected year-end is zero. 17 MS. HARGIS: We missed it. We have to put those 18 in. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 20 MS. HARGIS: If we let it project it, it just looks 21 at whatever's in there and divides it by 12, and it gives you 22 all kinds of strange things. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's okay. 24 MS. HARGIS: That's just a glitch. I apologize for 25 that. 7-23-08 bwk 21 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, the -- the autopsy and 2 inquest was increased by five. The projected year-end is 64, 3 but that 64 is probably too high? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, it's too high, because we 5 actually paid some that we're going to get reimbursement on 6 as a result of Ms. Lavender's efforts through the Crime 7 Victims. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 9 MS. HARGIS: But we do have that in here right now. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Due to a multiple murder out in 11 Ingram. I think there were four victims. 12 MS. HARGIS: Five. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we don't get paid for one of 14 them. One of them was the alleged perpetrator. 15 MS. HARGIS: Right. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: But there were four that we're going 17 to get reimbursed for. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: So, that's a considerable help to 20 bring that figure down. 21 MS. HARGIS: We were right on schedule with that 22 until we had that. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions on 24 Nondepartmental? Okay. Are we ready to move to 25 Commissioners Court? Probably need to go back -- okay, 7-23-08 bwk 22 1 that's 401. 2 (Discussion off the record.) 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Any questions on that one? We've 4 got some increase in conferences, because you'll note that 5 the amount was -- 6 MS. HARGIS: Too low. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. We also have -- remember, we 8 have the 8 percent increase in here for the health insurance 9 that we learned about at the first workshop. And I've put 10 the 10.35 percent for retirement, which is up to 2.3 times, 11 so those are all reflected. Our notices are up because of 12 what we've shown historically here. You can see we've 13 already exceeded by what we've paid to-date. The projected 14 is greater. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Jonathan, I don't think 16 salaries are in here. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Help me understand the 18 salary issue. If -- are we going to discuss salaries today? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: We can. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, I'm asking you. Are we 21 going to? Do you want to save it for a separate conversation 22 like we always do, or are you ready to launch into it? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, if we're talking about within 24 a particular budget, for example, a merit increase for a 25 particular employee in that budget, I think this may be the 7-23-08 bwk 23 1 time to talk about that particular issue with particular 2 departments. But if we're talking about global, in general, 3 we probably need to have a separate discussion about that. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. All right. I have -- 5 I have questions on both accounts. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Line Item 10-401-105, 8 'splain that to me. How does that work? I see a requested 9 amount, and where did that number come from to start with? 10 The 36,110, who requested that? 11 MS. HARGIS: That included her 4,000. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pardon? 13 MS. HARGIS: That included the 4,000. It wasn't 14 split out. See that? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I don't see that. 16 MS. HARGIS: Okay. You have -- the first line is 17 elected officials. The second line is the secretary. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 19 MS. HARGIS: The third line should have the 20 supplement in it, and it does not. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't see supplement. 22 MS. HARGIS: The supplement is not there; that's 23 what I'm saying. So, it's rolled up in the salary. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I see it. I got it. 25 MS. HARGIS: It's rolled up in the salary. 7-23-08 bwk 24 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I plugged the supplement in 2 the -- in the actual supplement line. For informational 3 purposes, when -- when I went into these budgets, as in prior 4 years, I looked at some capital items, maybe made slight 5 adjustments, depending on what they were, but generally left 6 capital alone, because the justification for each capital 7 expenditure from each department needs to come from the 8 department manager or elected official, as we've done in the 9 past. The same is true for salaries. The salaries should 10 only include at this point those that are adjustments that 11 are mandated by policy; i.e., longevity or education, plus 12 then what the Auditor has plugged in, as she's indicated 13 heretofore, the two adjustments with the -- number one, the 14 raising up the -- the Grade 13's, and the 10 percent that 15 she's already indicated. But other than that, I did not -- I 16 did not meddle in either one of those two areas. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, this particular line, 18 the 105 line, see, I don't see -- I don't see a 10 percent 19 increase. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I see a reduction from last 21 year. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see a reduction; I don't 23 see an increase at all. Help me understand why. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, the only rationale I can give 25 you, Commissioner, is that there was no -- the last year's 7-23-08 bwk 25 1 budget included the supplement. We've taken the supplement 2 out and moved it to 106. And then with the other increases, 3 longevity, and the -- the adjustments that were made, that 4 moved it up to the amount that's -- that's shown there on 5 105. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That should be -- that should 7 be the 35 plus the 4. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That would reflect what it 10 should reflect instead of looking like there was a decrease 11 in that line item. 12 MS. HARGIS: The original budget did not have the 13 supplement. You gave her the supplement later in the year. 14 Then we added the line so we could put the supplement in, so 15 it shows in the year-to-date actual, because it would, 16 because we -- that's when we started paying it. Then we 17 projected the year-end for that, and we projected her 18 year-end salary, and -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Makes sense. 20 MS. HARGIS: Probably when we projected that, we 21 should -- should have taken that out, but it is correct. It 22 should be 35,321, plus the four. Should be 39. Her original 23 was 32,110. So, the projection is wrong. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that all makes sense to 25 me. The question I have -- and I don't remember -- Region J, 7-23-08 bwk 26 1 what did we end up doing with that? That money goes into the 2 general fund and is not a supplement, correct? 3 MS. GRINSTEAD: I don't know how -- you're asking 4 me if it comes -- it's paid through payroll. I mean, there's 5 not any separate -- it's on my check. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. But it's part of the 7 current salary. We just added that as a duty, and the 8 revenue that comes in is -- just comes into the county. 9 MS. HARGIS: General fund. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: To the general fund. It's not 11 a -- doesn't flow through. It's two different -- one's a -- 12 MS. HARGIS: The way the original books were set up 13 was not to set up revenue against each department unless, 14 like, you had a special fund. Like, 76 was juvenile 15 detention; their revenue shows against their department, 16 because they're separate. But if you're in the general fund, 17 all the revenue in the general fund is in one area by itself, 18 and then each department's expenses are shown separately. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that's -- I still 20 don't understand this, then. If there's Region J money in 21 that supplement line -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, there isn't. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There is not? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. The County -- so, I mean, 25 essentially, the County -- Region J, I guess how you look at 7-23-08 bwk 27 1 it, is paying $3,000 a year into the general fund. It 2 covers -- 3 MS. HARGIS: Most of it. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- everything. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I understand. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: From utilities to paper to 7 phones to -- and it's part of her job responsibilities. 8 Okay, I just wondered. 9 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's not even in the 10 supplement? 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Doesn't get shown anywhere; 12 it's just coming into the general fund. It's not a 13 supplement. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: As an income item. But as an 16 expense item, it's shown here. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Well, that's my question. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 19 MS. HARGIS: Only the expenses are shown here. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I guess, what's in the 21 supplement here? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Ag -- ag booking and Region J. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 24 MS. HARGIS: Right, that's it. That's what the 25 court order reflected. 7-23-08 bwk 28 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That was the answer. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's the answer I was 4 looking for. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Looking for. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Took a while to get there, 7 but I got it. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Took a while to get it, I can 9 tell you that. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any other questions on -- on 11 Commissioners Court? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just one more, and this is -- 13 we have -- I mean, the court order sets all that out, so I 14 just want to make sure it's all documented, so if we make 15 changes, we know what we're changing in future years. 16 MS. HARGIS: Right, yes. 17 MS. HYDE: We have the court order, and it's 18 separate. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is the out-of-county 21 mileage predicated on the current state standards of .585? 22 MS. HARGIS: Yes. It's the -- they just changed 23 the web site, too. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It was 58 and a half, I 25 believe. 7-23-08 bwk 29 1 JUDGE TINLEY: 58.5, I believe, yeah. 2 MS. HYDE: And the suggestion is it's going up 3 again. 4 MS. HARGIS: Yeah. And we are tied to the Texas 5 mileage rate, -- 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's what I'm asking. 7 MS. HARGIS: -- not the I.R.S. rate. And right 8 now, they're 58.5. If I.R.S. goes up again, if the State 9 doesn't go up -- like, the State didn't go up when I.R.S. 10 went up in -- in the middle, so we just have to wait for them 11 to update theirs. So, they finally updated theirs as of 12 July 1. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right, they did. 14 MS. HARGIS: So we pay that. That's what the court 15 order says, is to pay -- 16 JUDGE TINLEY: In response, I reduced that 17 slightly. I recognize the increase in the rate, but also, if 18 you'll look at the projected year-end -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, I see that, Judge. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: And -- and that was my reasoning for 21 that. That may be a little tight. 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It might be. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: May be tight. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: It might be. 25 MS. HARGIS: If we need -- I would rather fix it 7-23-08 bwk 30 1 now than -- than -- because you each only went to two 2 conferences, and -- and that was pretty much all you had in 3 there, and it barely took care of it. It wasn't your mileage 4 that necessarily took you over. It was the cost -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Are the conferences in this 6 line item? 7 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: As opposed to in the 9 conference line item. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: No, it's in the conference line 11 item. 12 MS. HARGIS: It's in the conference line. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. Yeah, that's going 14 to be tight, Judge. You've got -- let's see, August. You've 15 got two more months left. 16 MS. HARGIS: We're going to have to do an amendment 17 to the current year. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Let's -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd rather -- I'd like to see 20 that out-of-county go up. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we'll go ahead and increase 22 that by 500 now. 23 MS. HARGIS: All right. So that I have clarity on 24 this 10-401-475, out-of-county mileage is going to 2,500? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: That's correct. Anything else? 7-23-08 bwk 31 1 Okay. We ready to go to I.T.? 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's that number, Judge? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you know what page it's on? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 10-408. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 10-408. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 10-408. Chugging right 7 along here. 8 (Discussion off the record.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Trolinger, I -- I decreased the 10 request for machine repairs based upon the history. Any 11 enlightenment that you could give us that would indicate that 12 that may not have been a wise move on my part? 13 MR. TROLINGER: No, sir, I agree with it. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 MR. TROLINGER: It's less than -- the equipment 16 that we capital-purchased two years ago is holding up very 17 well. We've had less than expected in repairs. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Then looking at contract 19 services, you'll note that I significantly reduced that. 20 Anything you want to tell us about that that may -- I know 21 you've got Drew on board now, and that's -- I know previous 22 to Drew coming on board, you were using an outside contractor 23 in some respects, and you were very, very -- very, very 24 careful about using that, too. You didn't spend but a small 25 amount of what you were allocated, as I recall. 7-23-08 bwk 32 1 MR. TROLINGER: Sparsely. Utilized it when there 2 was no other choice. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 4 MR. TROLINGER: We run our own network wire and 5 whatever we can do in-house. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 7 MR. TROLINGER: Working with Maintenance. But a 8 lot of the money from the contract services was actually 9 planned out for them, such as the microwave link to the 10 various offices, and that's actually in the capital outlay 11 line item, so that's actually moved. So, that was prudent 12 that you reduced that. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What all is in the capital 15 outlay, Mr. Trolinger? 16 MR. TROLINGER: We have a new server for storing 17 images. It's actually an addition, since we're rapidly 18 expanding our digital imaging at the jail, the Sheriff's 19 Office, and a couple of other offices will be going online. 20 So, we'll be at capacity next year sometime, so we'll need to 21 add to that. And then the microwave links for several 22 offices are in that item. But I've minimized it. This is 23 the fourth year of my five-year guesstimate plan, and it's 24 the low year in spending, overall county-wide spending, 25 computers, I.T. budget, everything. 7-23-08 bwk 33 1 JUDGE TINLEY: When do you see the broadband for 2 the -- for the outside offices being complete? I know it's 3 not something you're in control of, but -- 4 MR. TROLINGER: I was promised starting this week, 5 Animal Control would go online, and I've seen no movement on 6 it, so I do not have a good estimate. Now would be my 7 preference. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you think we're going to be there 9 by the beginning of the next budget year? 10 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. That's because of the 12 completion of the tower out there? 13 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 MR. TROLINGER: Exactly. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I'm sorry, what was 17 your question to him? What was the topic? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we're talking about the 19 contract services, and he mentioned that some of those things 20 that he previously had in contract services, he -- are now 21 included in his capital item, which is the last item on his 22 budget that he's got there. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Did the -- in that 24 conversation, the issue of the linking of the -- is that what 25 you were talking about? 7-23-08 bwk 34 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That's part of his capital outlay. 2 He's indicated in his notes that the linking up of the 3 offices that are located away from the courthouse, Animal 4 Control, Road and Bridge, the Extension -- well, Ingram's 5 already in, isn't it? 6 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Ag Barn, those places. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What about -- what about the 9 law enforcement side of it, or the court side of it, where 10 we're linking the jail with the judges, et cetera? 11 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, that's included. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that a part of what we're 13 talking about here? 14 MR. TROLINGER: Yes, to expand the -- yes. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And today, we're linked 16 with -- we're linked with the courthouse and the Kerr County 17 Jail? 18 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What are you going to expand 20 from that? 21 MR. TROLINGER: Animal Control, Road and Bridge, 22 Juvenile Detention. I'd like to see the Adult Probation 23 office, and the District Attorney's offices are planned for, 24 so that we'll have the bandwidth available if they implement 25 Odyssey. 7-23-08 bwk 35 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're going to include the 2 Animal Shelter in the video part of this thing? 3 MR. TROLINGER: No, that's strictly the broadband, 4 the connection to the county network. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Okay. 6 MR. TROLINGER: Just so they can have -- basically, 7 they need high-speed internet. They have dial-up right now. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I understand. 9 MR. TROLINGER: This is the least expensive avenue 10 to get high-speed internet out there. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now, we're linked up with 12 the Kerr County Jail, where there's a prisoner that could sit 13 down out there at the jail, and a local J.P. can magistrate 14 him from here. 15 MR. TROLINGER: Correct. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All right. Are you going to 17 expand that part of it? 18 MR. TROLINGER: To -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why'd you look at him? 20 MR. TROLINGER: Expand to it where? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know. That's what 22 I'm asking you. 23 MR. TROLINGER: Well, there were plans to expand to 24 other counties for the district to take advantage of it. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're not expanding 7-23-08 bwk 36 1 anything in this budget this year? 2 MR. TROLINGER: Video teleconference-wise, correct. 3 We have what we have. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there anything in this 5 budget that expands out into other counties? 6 MR. TROLINGER: No. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 8 MR. TROLINGER: You're welcome. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Boy, you're hard-headed 10 sometimes, I'm telling you. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: He's got his firewall up. 12 (Laughter.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner, I definitely want to 14 go there. I think it'll create a lot of efficiency in our 15 courts if we can expand the use of video teleconferencing to 16 the extent it's allowed under Code of Criminal Procedure in 17 criminal cases, and, of course, Rules of Civil Procedure. 18 But we're -- we've got the first -- first link in place, and 19 Judge Brown is utilizing that, and by all accounts is tickled 20 to death, finds it very, very helpful. And we're hoping to 21 get the District Courts to maybe at least try it, take a look 22 at it and find out how they like it. And once -- once we get 23 them on board, then hopefully we'll be able to link up at 24 some point in the future all of the counties in both judicial 25 districts so that they can effectively hold court from 7-23-08 bwk 37 1 anywhere, to the extent it's authorized by -- by the 2 applicable law. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I agree with you, it's 4 a great tool, and I'm excited about it. But I want us to be 5 a part of it as we step into it, and I just wanted to make 6 sure where we were in it. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: We have one more video 8 teleconferencing unit that is available to us, one of the 9 portable units, and I've got the Auditor looking to see if we 10 have enough money left in that capital account that we 11 created this fiscal year to see if maybe we can justify 12 purchasing that out of that, if there's funds available 13 there, so that an additional unit is available for another 14 court. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Or maybe the 198th D.A. can 16 kind of kick in. I understand they're loaded. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I've heard that. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're not paying attention. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No reaction. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we don't have the 198th D.A. 22 here; we have the Assistant D.A. from the 198th. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Right. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else on I.T., 25 gentlemen? Anything else you have for us, Mr. Trolinger? 7-23-08 bwk 38 1 MR. TROLINGER: Just -- just to finish up, outside 2 the I.T. budget, the capital loan from -- from this year's 3 budget, we've fully utilized those funds to pre-purchase 4 computers and various equipment against next year's capital 5 needs, so we've -- we've pretty much purchased all the 6 capital equipment, computer-wise -- PC-wise for next year 7 now. Two reasons. The capital outlay loan could only be 8 used for that purpose, and two, we saved a significant amount 9 in increased shipping and various cost increases that are 10 taking place. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: You had the cost increase in the -- 12 in the computer equipment itself, you had the transportation 13 and shipping cost, and then you got the right software system 14 on them, which is being -- a lot of which is no longer being 15 offered in some of the current equipment, unless it's a 16 special order, which drives the price up. 17 MR. TROLINGER: Correct. Three reasons, that's 18 correct. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 20 MR. TROLINGER: And the last -- 21 JUDGE TINLEY: So, what you're telling us is that 22 requests for capital outlay items for basic computers, PC 23 equipment, for the coming year by various departments 24 shouldn't be much, if anything, because you've already got 25 that laid in and stockpiled? 7-23-08 bwk 39 1 MR. TROLINGER: Correct. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 3 MR. TROLINGER: And that includes a couple 4 miscellaneous requests. Once we get to those budgets, I'll 5 chime in as needed. The only item that -- that I show that 6 might be considered is, there's a mileage for -- mileage 7 reimbursement line item that's not listed here, 10-408-426. 8 I've made an attempt to estimate the cost of driving to the 9 various offices, and at the rate that fuel prices and 10 maintenance, et cetera, are increasing, I'd estimate about 11 $720 a year, just -- just driving around between the offices 12 might be needed. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: For your department? 14 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. Might need to be plugged in. 15 Right now, that line item's not there. 16 MR. RUARK: Hasn't been created. 17 MR. TROLINGER: Has not been created. On the 18 Administration Recommended. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I can tell you -- 20 MR. TROLINGER: I want your feedback on that, what 21 you thought, if we're going to compensate with salary and 22 pay, or if we're going to try to do this via mileage 23 reimbursement. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: In that regard, there has been some 25 discussion about how we're going to handle those departments 7-23-08 bwk 40 1 that have a lot of local-type travel going on. And, of 2 course, there's two ways to do it, one of which is the 3 mileage, as you've indicated. Personally, I think that's a 4 slippery slope when we use local, in-county mileage. As most 5 of you know, I've had a little difficulty with that with the 6 Extension Service, and may continue to have that difficulty. 7 But I think the other way that we're looking at it is maybe 8 some sort of a -- a stipend to -- to provide to offset that. 9 That may be the simpler way to go. The Auditor's got some 10 thoughts about this. 11 MS. HARGIS: Well, in order to comply with the 12 I.R.S. rules, it's really going to have to be -- it's got to 13 go through salary, okay? Whether it's $100 a month or $50 a 14 month, it's still going to have to go through salary. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And, Judge, I was thinking 16 that was one of those areas that maybe that we would like to 17 talk about separately, like a salary. Because there are -- 18 there are -- I'm not real clear who all does that. I know 19 that, like, the Treasurer goes to the bank. And now that 20 Jody has taken on the Ag Barn and -- so she -- I'm seeing her 21 traveling some now, and it's not fair to her to use her own 22 gas to represent the County. So, I'm thinking -- and then, 23 you know, the I.T. is talking about it. Maybe we can -- if 24 we can gather up all those people that -- that do that kind 25 of traveling, and let's figure it out as a separate item, 7-23-08 bwk 41 1 instead of trying to piecemeal it here. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me -- let me offer this as a 3 suggestion, Commissioner; that we get the H.R. Director to 4 come up with a schedule, as it were, on a -- say, either an 5 annual or a monthly travel allowance. You know, your J.P.'s 6 do it some, unless they've got that vehicle. We talked about 7 the vehicle, and I think we -- that's where our eyes went 8 spinning like a slot machine after we got through with that 9 discussion. And we've got some others that do a minimal 10 amount of travel. We got some that do more travel. I.T. 11 does more travel running back and forth to -- to the external 12 locations. But I think probably the best way to do it would 13 be to let H.R. come up with -- kind of in cooperation with 14 the Auditor, because they're -- 15 MS. HYDE: Absolutely. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: -- numbers that have got to be 17 plugged in, but just a schedule of a monthly or an annual 18 stipend for all of these folks, and it's going to have to be 19 by individual and not by department. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: If it's going to go on a salary 22 item. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Judge, there may be another 24 way to do it, too. After taking an assessment of who all has 25 in-county travel for county business, create an estimated 7-23-08 bwk 42 1 pool of dollars, and let each individual voucher at the end 2 of the month and draw off that pool, as opposed to putting it 3 out regularly in 12 increments. 4 MS. HYDE: I think -- no, she's talking, I think, 5 that same thing. Under I.R.S. regs, it has to be part of the 6 salary, right? Any sort of mileage reimbursement? 7 MS. HARGIS: Any mileage reimbursement. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: What Commissioner Williams has 9 suggested is that maybe we create a -- I guess, under 10 Nondepartmental, a pool of money, and monthly, that -- that 11 individuals doing that make a request against that. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Voucher for their mileage 13 at the end of each month, as opposed to everything being a 14 stipend of some kind. 15 MS. HARGIS: I'm going to check the regulations 16 again, but as I recall from reading the current one that we 17 have, regardless of whether you get reimbursed or if you have 18 your exact mileage, you have to include it in -- in their 19 reimbursement, because it's considered a benefit. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 21 MS. HARGIS: And so, when it's a benefit, then it 22 has to go through their salary line item, whether it's 23 separate or not. And so the way that -- on my ListServ, all 24 the other auditors have been struggling with this as well, 25 and the best solution they came up with was to go ahead and 7-23-08 bwk 43 1 do an allowance, because you've got to include it anyway. 2 Then you're just putting extra steps and then putting it in 3 their salary anyway. So, it's -- I mean, you need -- they 4 still have to keep up with it. They still have to keep up 5 with their mileage, and they have to -- if we gave them, for 6 instance, $50 a month, they would have to meet that $50 7 deadline for I.R.S., or they would have to refund it back. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, I think you're missing 9 my point. The system is very similar to what we use for 10 out-of-county mileage. Out-of-county mileage is vouchered by 11 the individual based on the trip, et cetera, and it's a 12 separate draw-down. 13 MS. HARGIS: I.R.S. does not consider 14 out-of-county, or out-of -- when you travel as a -- as a 15 benefit. It goes on along with the travel. But when you're 16 at home and you get mileage for driving your car, that is a 17 benefit, period. There's no -- there's no -- 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Even if you issue a 1099 at 19 the end of the year? 20 MS. HARGIS: Yes, because I.R.S. says it's not 1099 21 income any more. It is -- it's W-2 income. It's a benefit. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The only way you can -- I'm 23 kind of asking, but my understanding is that -- and I'm 24 not -- if we just reimburse for the gasoline, 'cause they 25 turn in the gasoline receipt. 7-23-08 bwk 44 1 MS. HARGIS: Same thing. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: I.R.S. -- the I.R.S. is after the 3 Social Security and Medicare portion of that, and they want 4 it reported as salary so that it's includable for the 7.65 -- 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Kerr County -- and maybe my 6 accountant's wrong, but if it's a business reimbursement, if 7 it's just -- if it's no depreciation, not for any -- they've 8 given a -- they had a fill-up, filled up the car, had a good 9 receipt for the exact time they used it, you're reimbursing 10 off that receipt. That's an actual -- that's no different 11 than any other exact reimbursement. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The problem with that, 13 Commissioner -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's hard to do. It's 15 almost impossible to do it. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The problem with that is, 17 on an employee group, they're turning in a gas voucher for 18 $40 to fill up their tank. The reality is, they didn't use 19 $40 worth -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, that's what I'm saying. 21 You have to do the incremental use while you were gone. But 22 it's -- it doesn't work. Going back to the -- I think it was 23 Commissioner Baldwin brought it up, or was going down the 24 road, in terms of bunny trail, to get a vehicle for use. 25 That's where you were going, it seemed. I really like that. 7-23-08 bwk 45 1 And the reason I like it is -- is insurance, and liability to 2 the County, and people having -- if something happens, I 3 think we're in a whole lot better ground if we're not having 4 people running around in their own vehicles. I think it's a 5 liability that we've known has been out there, and we've 6 handled it through some insurance things, and people -- you 7 know, they get, you know, riders on their own personal 8 policies and things like that. But if they don't get those 9 riders, you know, I think we still hold the bag. 10 MS. HARGIS: I agree. But, unfortunately, one car 11 won't do it, because John's gone most of the time, and if 12 John was in the car, it would be gone. So, the problem is -- 13 MR. TROLINGER: Well, let me -- let me chime in. 14 Not to completely disagree with you, but to make the runs, 15 say -- say there's a problem and we're here in the courthouse 16 and we need to run to Probation, you know, half an hour trip. 17 I think those kind of trips would work out fine. So, for 18 I.T., I could see it working out, a shared vehicle. 19 MS. HARGIS: But -- you're one department, but we 20 have 50 departments and 50 people -- we probably have 50 21 people that may want a car to run back and forth, and -- and 22 you've got a problem with, when is the car going to be 23 available? 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think what you can do, 25 though, I think we kind of do like we did with cell phones. 7-23-08 bwk 46 1 I think you have to get more than one car. I think you have 2 to have a small pool of cars, and a pool being two or three, 3 to me. And then if Commissioner Williams wants to use it to 4 go to San Antonio, he can. If he chooses to use his own car, 5 he gets no reimbursement. You know, we force people to use 6 it. If they want to use their own car, fine, but they're not 7 getting reimbursement, not getting any credit for it. 8 MS. HYDE: I think there's another -- like, I know 9 that you can also -- the only other, like, caveat with the 10 I.R.S., I'm sure you'll agree, is if you rent. For example, 11 you can rent and reimburse the rental, and it doesn't go 12 against your salary. So, for example, if you guys were going 13 to a conference, or one of you was going to a conference, if 14 we could rent, then it would be a straight reimbursement. 15 You can pay for the fuel out of the rental, because it's a 16 separate fill-up. 17 MS. HARGIS: But that's still out of town. 18 MS. HYDE: Yes. 19 MR. TROLINGER: Out of town, you still get 20 reimbursed. 21 MS. HYDE: Out of town. It's within that 60-mile 22 radius from where you work that kicks it -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We went that route with 24 Road and Bridge, you may recall, and purchased them a 25 vehicle, which, with a very few exceptions, has been an 7-23-08 bwk 47 1 exclusive vehicle for Road and Bridge. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, it was intended to be 3 exclusive. Not exclusive for one person at Road and Bridge, 4 but anyway -- 5 MS. HARGIS: I mean, would you like -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: To take home. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes. 8 MS. HARGIS: Would you like for me to work up the 9 cost of purchasing -- I mean, and I would suggest that if we 10 did something like that, we purchase used vehicles. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: A couple used Yugo's would be 12 fine for the County. (Laughter.) I mean, I'm saying -- I 13 think that I'm more concerned really about the liability 14 issue of people using personal cars running errands, and not 15 as much the elected officials as the employees, and I think 16 that is a problem. And I think we -- we've kind of dodged it 17 every year, and I think if it requires buying a couple of 18 used, you know, very moderate-priced cars, and having them in 19 a fleet, and people have to use them. Some of the employees 20 just may have to schedule. I mean, people may not be able to 21 just pick up and go to the bank when they want to. They have 22 to -- maybe a little bit of scheduling there, and just take 23 care of it that way. I think it's -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. I think the 25 scheduling issue, you could do it with two cars. I mean, she 7-23-08 bwk 48 1 said -- when she said we have 50 departments and 50 -- well, 2 that's not true. You're talking about five or six 3 departments and five or six different people that -- so I 4 think it can be done. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Some of them do it, like 6 Maintenance. They are -- they're taken out of the mix, 7 'cause they've got their own vehicles. I mean, Road and 8 Bridge is taken out of the mix. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course, our department 10 gets it first, right? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Always. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So the Commissioners Court 13 and Jody get first -- first shot at it. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I'd like to see the cost 15 of two low-priced cars to be used -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Low price, high mileage. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Low price, high mileage. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: How about a scooter -- couple 19 of Vespa scooters? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, yeah. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then we'll have to worry about 22 people getting sick from the wind. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want one so bad. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, obviously, we're not 25 going to resolve that issue right here and now. Anything 7-23-08 bwk 49 1 else on I.T.? Okay, let's move to District Courts, the 216th 2 District Court. 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That number is? 4 MR. RUARK: 435. 5 MS. HENDERSON: We accept everything you have in 6 here. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. Bye. 8 MS. HENDERSON: Do what? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. Bye. 10 JUDGE PROHL: Same for 198th. Your recommendation 11 is fine. We don't have any, unless you have issues. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I have -- I'd have to 13 acknowledge, I was pretty kind to you folks this year. 14 JUDGE PROHL: You're always kind. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: But -- 16 JUDGE PROHL: You're trying to force me to look 17 into that camera and talk to people at the jail. (Laughter.) 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm going to get you there. You can 19 come voluntarily or kicking and screaming with your heels 20 dragging the ground, whichever way you want. 21 JUDGE PROHL: Next we'll have to have a makeup 22 artist. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: We can do that, Judge. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: We got that in Nondepartmental for 25 contingency for the makeup artist. 7-23-08 bwk 50 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Operating equipment. 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: You want a wardrobe 3 allowance also? 4 JUDGE PROHL: Absolutely, as long as it's not 5 considered a benefit that have I to ... (Laughter.) 6 MS. HENDERSON: Y'all have any questions? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Do you want to tell me now whether 8 it's going to be voluntary or kicking and screaming? 9 JUDGE PROHL: Well, we got to figure out how it'd 10 work with felonies. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Got to what? 12 JUDGE PROHL: How it would work on felonies. We 13 just -- our position has been -- my position has been I'll go 14 out to the jail courtroom 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 15 It does not bother me. And so, as far as the other counties 16 are concerned, you know, I think you're certainly -- should 17 certainly go talk to them. I've talked to them. I don't 18 know what Randy -- Randy may be on board, 'cause he's doing 19 some high-tech stuff in the new courthouse up there, but my 20 other three county judges will be pretty -- pretty adamant 21 that they're not interested in doing that right now. That 22 doesn't mean they won't do it in the future. Right now, 23 they're not -- and the realistic thing is, we -- you know, 24 with five counties, you know, I'm an elected official of five 25 counties, and I have to go to those counties. Doesn't matter 7-23-08 bwk 51 1 if I got teleconferencing or not; I have to go to those 2 counties, because they become concerned when we're only up 3 there two or three days out of a month because of our 4 schedule. So, we're very conscious of physically being in 5 those counties. And -- and there are some failures. There 6 are some things that -- we talked about it. 7 You know, if you got an emergency T.R.O. or 8 something that you do, that -- that would certainly help, no 9 question about it. 'Cause I -- you know, if I need to drive 10 all the way up there to do an uncontested divorce, it's sort 11 of crazy, but I have to do it. You know, it's 80 -- well, I 12 think about Brady being further; that's 186 miles round -- 13 one way, and -- or round trip, rather. And even -- even my 14 little car that's getting 24 miles to the gallon, it's still 15 expensive. So, I think there will be some uses for it. I 16 do. I'm not sure -- and Amos and I talked about it on the 17 criminal end for felonies. And other counties could be a 18 little bit of an issue, but we're willing to look at it, and 19 I'm willing to try it here. But I'm -- I'm always willing to 20 go out there to the courtroom. And I know that -- there he 21 is; hi -- it saves the County a lot of money not to have to 22 transport people from the jail here, so we've started to try 23 to address that it way. But to answer your question, we're 24 willing to look at it, consider it, you know. But -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I understand the need that you have 7-23-08 bwk 52 1 to be physically present from time to time in those counties, 2 because you are one of their elected officials, and that's 3 absolutely essential. But there are times when, you know, 4 even -- you're an hour and a half or a little bit better from 5 Brady, so that's three hours lost on the road up and back. 6 And sometimes, if you only have an hour's worth of business 7 up there, a few arraignments, maybe a pretrial, announcements 8 and maybe a plea or a couple of uncontested divorces, that's 9 three -- three hours that can be saved that you can be 10 working on other matters. You lose a lot on the road, and 11 you recognize that. 12 JUDGE PROHL: Yeah. I spend a lot of time on the 13 road, and I agree with that. I agree with that. I think it 14 just has to be measured and used where it can be conducive, 15 but I'm willing to give it a shot. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I -- I have talked with some 17 of the county judges in those counties, and they understand 18 there's -- there's fiscal implications. They believe they're 19 greater than what they really are. The -- the initial cost 20 is not as great as they think it is, and generally in those 21 rural counties that you've got up in the north end, because 22 so many of the defense lawyers come from Kerrville, they're 23 -- they're spending a lot of money for time and travel for 24 defense lawyers to go up to their counties. 25 JUDGE PROHL: Absolutely. 7-23-08 bwk 53 1 JUDGE TINLEY: That they might be able to very 2 easily offset that cost. And we've talked about that, and 3 I've gotten generally favorable responses from a couple of 4 them that I've talked to. So, we'll see how that develops, 5 but I think -- I think it's coming. 6 JUDGE PROHL: Well, we'll try it. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 8 JUDGE PROHL: Y'all need anything else from us? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, let's see if you're safe. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Operating equipment? 11 JUDGE PROHL: I'm looking at your administration 12 recommendations. And that's -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I understand. 14 JUDGE PROHL: Yeah. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Your question? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm still on 216th here. 17 MS. HENDERSON: You're on 216th? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The operating equipment, I 19 just want to know what the decrease was there. 20 MS. HENDERSON: New judge -- new judge coming in on 21 that, and he wants a desktop computer. Is that the one 22 you're talking about? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: No, that's capital outlay. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You requested 2,500. 25 MS. HENDERSON: Right. 7-23-08 bwk 54 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And he lowered to it 1,000. 2 MS. HENDERSON: Right. Because -- 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I want to know from him why 4 he lowered it from your request. 5 MS. HENDERSON: And he talked to me, so -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, but he hasn't talked 7 to me, but we're going to get to it. 8 MS. HENDERSON: He's right. I boo-booed on that. 9 He's right. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 11 MS. HENDERSON: I will tell you that. 12 JUDGE PROHL: We think the I.T. Department can 13 build one for 1,000. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you expect any answer other than 15 I'm right, Commissioner? (Laughter.) 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely not. 17 MS. HENDERSON: Mark it; he's right. He's right. 18 I made a mistake when I was figuring it. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge -- 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions, Commissioner? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge Prohl, I worked with a 22 county judge one time that sat here and told a guy -- he 23 says, "I know what you need, but I" -- "I know what you want, 24 but I know also know what you need." See? And that's kind 25 of what he's doing with your travel thing. You don't need to 7-23-08 bwk 55 1 go up there and face those people and get reelected. My god, 2 you can do -- you can do all that from the bathroom here. 3 JUDGE PROHL: Big screen TV. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The big screen TV. So, I 5 should have never questioned him. Ever, ever, at all. 6 JUDGE PROHL: I understand that he -- 7 MS. HENDERSON: He's right. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's right. You're right, 9 Judge. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Put a mark down. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's the only question I 12 had. I'm sorry I asked that. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: We need to mark that place in the 14 record, madam reporter. We'll come back to that. Anything 15 else on 216th? Okay. Let's go to 198th, if I can find out 16 which one I'm working on here. 17 JUDGE PROHL: We hope we don't have a big 18 transcript issue. You remember, we had an organized crime 19 case, and we fought that all the way through the Court of 20 Appeals, because I found that the man was not indigent 21 because he had sources from family and friends. Fourth Court 22 disagreed with me, came back and said you got to provide it, 23 and we got clipped $12,000, $13,000. It was significant. 24 So, we don't have any cases like that that we know of right 25 now, and we don't have any big cases, unless somebody shoots 7-23-08 bwk 56 1 somebody today, that we -- that would be criminal cases that 2 we're dealing with right now that will be cost prohibitive. 3 Sometimes those just pop up, and you can't do anything about 4 it. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Special court -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: In the 216th, going back to 7 that one -- I know we're jumping back and forth. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Oops. Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What about the Seard case? Is 10 that going to trial this year? 11 MR. CURRY: We'll know a lot more tomorrow. 12 There's a hearing tomorrow on a new motion for competency, 13 and I think it will be dependent somewhat on that ruling. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is that -- is that trial in the 15 budget? 16 MR. CURRY: I don't think so. 17 MS. HENDERSON: No, because -- what are you talking 18 about, like, for special trials? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, I just -- I mean, it will 20 be a capital murder. 21 MS. HENDERSON: No. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It will be a high-profile big 23 trial. 24 MS. HENDERSON: And we discussed this a couple 25 years ago on the special trials, where we just never know, so 7-23-08 bwk 57 1 we zeroed it out. And -- 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. And so it's -- I know 3 that was our policy, but it's kind of creeping closer to 4 trial, it appears today, or maybe tomorrow it won't be. 5 MS. HARGIS: I've been keeping up with it, and 6 between Rusty and Bruce, like he said, tomorrow we'll find 7 out. But if it is, I think we need to look at that. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do we have a projected amount 9 for that trial if it takes place? A projected cost? 10 MR. CURRY: I'm not good at that. I -- the problem 11 with this trial, it's got substantial -- already had 12 substantial psychiatric, that kind of medical, and that makes 13 this higher than normal, and I don't know if I can give you a 14 valid number or not. $60,000, $70,000, maybe more. 15 MS. HENDERSON: That's what I'd say. 16 MR. CURRY: It's that mental stuff. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know. Going to be a lot of 18 extra witnesses on both sides. Okay. 19 JUDGE PROHL: Let me touch on one thing, too. I 20 think Judge Tinley got a letter from the San Antonio 21 appellate indigent defense people. You know, before, they 22 came to all the rural -- came to everybody, particularly 23 rural counties, and said, you know, "We'll do your appeals 24 for free; y'all just have to pay the transcript." So, this 25 year they sent us a letter saying, "We're no longer going to 7-23-08 bwk 58 1 do it for free. We'll do it on a fee basis, and if you don't 2 join in with us, you may lose any of your grant funding from 3 O.C.A. on this indigent defense." I called -- I called the 4 guy who heads the indigent defense and I said, "They can't do 5 this. They just can't do it," and he agreed. He said the 6 letter was absolutely wrong, that they cannot affect funding 7 for O.C.A. And so I called that service today and said, 8 "Judge Roberts called me; said he talked to you, and said 9 that, you know, we'll -- we'll just hire our own." We're 10 going to have to pay them anyway. Hire those appellate 11 attorneys that we have confidence in and can do this, because 12 we can do it just as inexpensive as we can hiring this San 13 Antonio firm who, all of a sudden, went from free to fee 14 basis. But I -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Did their grant funding for the 16 appellate indigent project run out? 17 JUDGE PROHL: Yeah. It's a one-year grant. I 18 thought about that. It's typical of these sort of unfunded 19 mandates. We'll set you up for a year, then you got to go to 20 the counties and start charging them. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, Buster, now I get to 23 test him. It's my turn. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Go get him. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Are you ready? 7-23-08 bwk 59 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: On the court coordinator's 3 salary, it went from last year's 67,612 to a recommended 4 100,623. That's a 50 percent increase in that line item. 5 MS. HENDERSON: I didn't put that in there. I -- 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It was also -- 7 MS. HENDERSON: I've seen that. I am not 8 responsible for that, but thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It was also asked on ours; 10 there was a request as well as the recommended. 11 MS. HENDERSON: I mean, we didn't put anything in 12 there. 13 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, they weren't allowed to. 14 MS. HENDERSON: But thanks. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Okay, Judge. Answer. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: The only -- number one, I'm going to 17 give you the same -- the same disclaimer that I mentioned to 18 Buster a little bit ago. On the salary items and the capital 19 outlay items, that comes here to the full court, as it has in 20 prior years. So, my effort on these budgets was started 21 below the salary items, including the roll-ups and so forth, 22 with some few exceptions, and down to the capital outlay. 23 What I can tell you is that there may have been some change 24 in the allocation formula, either based on population or case 25 load. I'm not sure which one is used in the 216th. 7-23-08 bwk 60 1 MS. HARGIS: I'll go back and check, 'cause it's a 2 pretty complicated formula. It's based on allocation, and 3 it's also based on their supplements as well. And -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: For the Sixth Administrative 5 District? Is that included there also? 6 MS. HARGIS: Yes, I'm sorry. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Increase is the same for both 8 198th and the 216th? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm. It's still a 10 50 percent increase. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Dollars are the same for both 12 those courts, so allocation may be part of it, but it would 13 be odd for an allocation to change the same for both. 14 MS. HARGIS: I used the spreadsheet that I had that 15 was passed down to me, so let me check to make sure. 16 MS. HENDERSON: Yeah. The Sixth region wouldn't 17 be... 18 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Next question is the same 20 thing on the court reporter line item. It went from 51,000, 21 current budget, to 69,468. That's a hefty increase. 22 MS. HENDERSON: We didn't. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Good increase for a salary. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: You're in the 198th now? 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm in the 198th. 7-23-08 bwk 61 1 MS. HENDERSON: Now that I look at them, it's 2 great, but we didn't do that. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm just looking at what's on 4 the screen. 5 MS. HENDERSON: That's the first I've seen them, 6 too. 7 MS. HARGIS: I plugged those in, so it's very 8 possible there's an error, 'cause it's the first time I've 9 done those. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We need to look at for both 11 courts, the coordinator and the court reporter, 'cause the 12 percentage on the court reporter in both courts is pretty 13 high. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 25 percent, 50 percent. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That affects the bottom line 17 tremendously. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Oh, yeah. Was it the same 19 number on the 216th as well? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's different, but a big 21 increase. The court reporter is from 31 to 41. 22 JUDGE PROHL: We didn't request those figures. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's a 33 percent increase. 24 But when they put together those -- when -- because they have 25 to do that computated formula, if you'll think back, last 7-23-08 bwk 62 1 year we had a little bit of an issue, 'cause when I plugged 2 them in the position schedule, y'all ripped me the same way. 3 I didn't get them quite 50 percent, yeah, but I gave them, 4 like, a 25 percent increase. So, I can -- I can kind of 5 relate on that one. It's a convoluted -- convoluted thing. 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Formula. 7 MS. HYDE: Thank you. So... 8 JUDGE TINLEY: You and Ms. Hargis take a look and 9 give us a -- a detailed explanation of that, if you would. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Or an adjustment. 11 MS. HENDERSON: On the -- not to get off the 12 subject, but on the $1,000 for operating equipment, John just 13 told me that he has a computer -- new desktop computer that 14 he can give Judge Williams when he comes in, so if -- if 15 that's so, we can take out that $1,000. That's what that was 16 for. We already have the laptop for him, so I don't know. 17 Is it -- is it, like, a brand new computer? Or is it -- 18 MR. TROLINGER: Yes. 19 MS. HENDERSON: Okay. I mean, if he's got one, 20 that's all we need is a desktop. He'll have a laptop. He'll 21 have Judge Ables' laptop, so -- and that's what he wanted. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. So, we can delete that one. 23 MR. TROLINGER: It's pretty easy to delete things 24 out of the budget. 25 MS. HYDE: Yeah. 7-23-08 bwk 63 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, that always comes a bit 2 easier. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I have one more 4 question. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: All right, sir. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Y'all through with all that? 7 Judge Prohl? This is maybe a philosophical question. I'm 8 not sure, but I just want to ask it anyway. Special District 9 Judges. That's -- I think that's what we used to call 10 visiting judges. 11 JUDGE PROHL: Yeah. Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If I remember right, a long 13 time ago, the State participated in that salary when -- when 14 a judge would come and visit, and I don't know if they paid 15 all of it or not, but I know that Kerr County hardly ever 16 paid anybody. 17 JUDGE PROHL: Yeah. This -- I'm going to let Becky 18 answer that, because that is sort of a regional question, and 19 she can answer it, 'cause she deals specifically -- if you 20 don't mind, she deals specifically with that. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And, so -- (speaking to his 22 computer) If you go to sleep, I'm throwing you out the damn 23 window. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Just punch your -- 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, we put some -- we put 7-23-08 bwk 64 1 2,500 in the budget, and we're obviously not going to use any 2 of it, so we cranked it down to 2,000. But I'm thinking, to 3 me, that would be one of those ways -- and I -- again, I 4 think we're getting into philosophical ways of running your 5 office. To me, that would be a way, if you had a visiting 6 judge, like a Charlie Sherrill type guy, come in here that we 7 paid -- I don't think we've ever paid Charlie a penny, 30 8 years of service here. But if we paid somebody to hear those 9 things and get those guys out of jail to help clear -- clean 10 our jail out some. And we're in the process of talking right 11 now about building a new jail, millions of dollars. And 12 we're talking about different ways -- I mean, I'm just 13 asking. Wouldn't that be a way, if you had a visiting judge 14 to come in here and sit and -- to hear more cases? 15 JUDGE PROHL: Are you talking about counties 16 setting up a separate little fund that says we'll pay for a 17 retired judge; i.e., Judge Ables will be here. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 19 JUDGE PROHL: And -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Exactly. 21 JUDGE PROHL: -- pick up -- now, prosecutors have 22 to be involved in that response. But -- 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think we have -- I think 24 we have that right line. 25 JUDGE PROHL: Well, the $2,000, as I understand it, 7-23-08 bwk 65 1 when the State -- when we bring a visiting judge in, the 2 State pays their salary, but the County has to pay -- 3 MS. HENDERSON: We have to pay their hotel, if 4 there's expenses, their food, their travel, their mileage. 5 And the reason we haven't used that is because Judge Sherrill 6 has been doing it for us. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 8 MS. HENDERSON: And he lives within Kerr County, so 9 we don't have -- and we've been able to use him as much as we 10 can, and that's one reason that we do use Judge Sherrill, is 11 because he doesn't -- we don't have to pay him anything. But 12 if we bring somebody in that -- Judge Sherrill's not 13 available, we have to bring somebody in, say, from Brady, 14 Judge Jordan, then he gets to claim his mileage. If he 15 spends the night, he gets to claim the hotel, and then he 16 gets to claim his food. He's been real good about not -- not 17 charging us either, and that's why the last couple of years 18 we haven't used that. Only problem is, if we take it out 19 completely and we do have to have a visiting judge come in, 20 that they're recused for some reason, then we don't have the 21 money there. That's why we've kept it. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Actually, I'm promoting 23 visiting judges. 24 JUDGE PROHL: And we understand. But -- but to 25 answer your question -- I think that's good, but I think what 7-23-08 bwk 66 1 would have to happen, we'd have to create -- we'd have to 2 create days when you'd have a prosecutor available. 3 Prosecutor's office would have to be there for whatever 4 happened. And that -- you know, at one time we talked about 5 going out in the evenings even, doing something. But a 6 couple things happen. One, if you've got people -- a lot of 7 people in jail sometimes are on motions to revoke. They're 8 not entitled to a bond. We have a fistful of them. And so 9 you get -- they have to have an attorney. You get them an 10 attorney; you want to have a hearing as quickly as possible. 11 Attorneys are going to say, "Golly, the guy just got arrested 12 last night; you appointed me the next day. I need to get a 13 copy of everything. It's going be a week or two before I can 14 get prepared and interview witnesses and get ready to go." 15 So, a lot of those we can't just open the door and let out. 16 And then lots of people, their bonds are set, and 17 we frequently lower bonds to get people out. We do that for 18 lots of reasons. Maybe it was a hot check thing, and -- and 19 maybe a PR bond; we go back and look at it. Or if it's -- if 20 it's a pregnant person or a person that's got other -- other 21 physical problems, usually the Sheriff's Department lets us 22 know right quick. We don't have many of them, but we're 23 going to have to pay for the medical, and if they're not a 24 threat to society, we let them out. We're willing to -- to 25 consider anything y'all want to do to help expedite the 7-23-08 bwk 67 1 process, absolutely, and I appreciate that. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- I mean, I want to 3 say it in a little bit different way. It's a whole lot 4 cheaper for the taxpayers for us to bring in visiting 5 District Judges and hire another District Attorney than build 6 another jail. If we need to beef up the D.A.'s office and 7 get a visiting judge in here to clean out people, that's a 8 whole lot better than having to spend who knows how many 9 millions on a jail. And if that's an option, we need to -- I 10 think we'll probably -- once Judge Williams is on board, 11 and -- and the changes that are coming up, and Amos and all 12 that are on board, I'd rather really try to ask y'all to look 13 at that for us and see if that is a viable solution to help 14 clean out the jail population by bringing in visiting judges 15 or D.A.'s, trying to look at where -- is there any 16 bottlenecks that we can resolve? Because it's a whole lot 17 better for us to get people out of that jail as fast as we 18 can. 19 JUDGE PROHL: If you go to -- if you, in fact, go 20 to a four-day work week -- I don't know what you're going to 21 do, and we just support whatever you do. I had some 22 attorneys grimace a little bit, but I said, you know, we can 23 start hearings at 7 o'clock in the morning. And, I mean, I 24 have hearings in Brady at 7:30 in the morning, so I get up 25 and drive up there and do it, so it wouldn't be a big step 7-23-08 bwk 68 1 for me to do that. And you can -- you could -- and Amos has 2 been doing the same thing, so we're used to those early 3 hours. We could go out to the jail; you know, we could have 4 a morning docket, 7:00 to -- 7:00 to 9:00, and then pick up 5 the regular docket back in the courthouse later. I mean, 6 just there's lots of things that we could do, and we're 7 willing to do. So -- so, yes. Maybe the first of the year, 8 we can sit down, put our heads together and come up with an 9 approach to it. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, thank you. 11 JUDGE PROHL: We're willing to do that. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I think the members of the Court 15 will recall that when we created -- actually funded that 16 account last year, we were looking forward at the jail 17 problem, because that was starting to build up on us, and 18 that was our concern at the time. And it's probably gotten 19 worse instead of better, so anything you can do to help would 20 be greatly appreciated. 21 JUDGE PROHL: Yeah. Boy, y'all -- 216th had a 22 stack of indictments like that. The number of indictments in 23 both courts are just escalating at an incredible pace, and, 24 you know, we can just go so fast. You have a lot more 25 flexibility with misdemeanors -- I think Mr. Emerson will 7-23-08 bwk 69 1 tell you that -- than we do with the felonies. But we'll 2 certainly look at any way we can to expedite those things. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then, on the flip side, 4 a couple of years ago we had a visiting judge from College 5 Station that -- I don't know who that jerk was, but he -- I 6 mean, he came in here wanting to change our budget system. 7 Who was that guy? Don't bring him back. 8 JUDGE PROHL: Judge Delaney. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, I'm glad you remember. 10 MS. HENDERSON: We would like to say one thing. We 11 did not assign him or get him in. The Supreme Court sent him 12 to us. We had nothing to do with him. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm glad y'all remember 14 that. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Given the opportunity to scream, 16 Ms. Henderson, you do better than that, right? 17 MS. HENDERSON: We did not -- yes, sir. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 19 MS. HENDERSON: The Supreme Court did that. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else on 216th or 198th 21 Court? Okay. I tell you what; it's 10:30, so let's go ahead 22 and take about a 15-minute recess, and we'll come back and 23 get with the D.A.'s. 24 JUDGE PROHL: Thank y'all. 25 (Recess taken from 10:32 a.m. to 10:52 a.m.) - - - - - - - - - - 7-23-08 bwk 70 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's get back to business, if 2 we might. The next items we have up are the District 3 Attorneys. The first one is 216th D.A. What we've got is 4 a -- is a lump -- 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What number is that, Judge? 6 MR. RUARK: 440. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 440. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Just about a $2,000 increase 9 overall. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: In this one? 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm obviously on the wrong 13 page. I'm on Page 23. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's right. That's where 15 I am. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's right. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, but where do we go for the 18 detail, Ken? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Is there one? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 21 MR. RUARK: No, the only detail we have -- I mean, 22 what it looks like here is just that one amount, so whoever 23 entered 164,069, that's all we have at this point. And 24 Jeannie's not in the room, so... 25 MS. HYDE: I'll go get Jeannie. 7-23-08 bwk 71 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We've always had the detail on 2 that. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 4 MR. CURRY: Detail of the budget request? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 6 MR. CURRY: She printed one out for me yesterday. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't you let Jody make some 8 copies and we can take a look at that. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. I want to see how 10 much the D.A.'s gone up on his rent over there. 11 MR. RUARK: All right. We're in -- okay, here's 12 the deal. You need to go to Fund 83, and that's -- I'll 13 bring that up in a second. That's where his budget's at, not 14 in Fund 107. That's where I'm at. That's where that report 15 is. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What page is that? 17 MR. RUARK: You have to keep going. You go to Fund 18 83 and look at Department 440. That's where his detail's at. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 83? 20 MR. RUARK: 83. Now I'll bring it up here, too. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: 83-440. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I am there. 23 MR. RUARK: Okay. And here's -- on the screen 24 you'll see his. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Page 183. 7-23-08 bwk 72 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 2 MR. RUARK: We found it. 3 MS. HARGIS: Okay. 4 MS. GRINSTEAD: Did you guys find it? 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We got it. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Office rent stayed the same. 7 (Discussion off the record.) 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Bruce, while they're doing 9 that, can I ask you a question? 10 MR. CURRY: Yes, sir. Stand here or go up there? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can sit down there. 12 MR. CURRY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Would you -- would you have 14 this same conversation with us after the first of the year 15 about visiting judges and those kinds of things, and how to 16 -- how can we empty that jail? 17 MR. CURRY: Sure. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just sit down, have a visit 19 about it, whether we come to any kind of conclusion or not. 20 MR. CURRY: Oh, absolutely. Sure. I think the 21 only way -- frankly, I was listening to Karl talking. I can 22 give you arguments pro and con on it, and I'm talking from a 23 felony standpoint. A lot of that's misdemeanor stuff. But I 24 think you just have to try it and see, because a lot of what 25 he says is exactly right. It sounds like it, and then you 7-23-08 bwk 73 1 walk in there, and when the dust clears, you've taken care of 2 three people out of 50, you know, something like that. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 4 MR. CURRY: You can certainly try it and see. 5 That's about the only -- 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just want to have a 7 conversation, 'cause we have the Sheriff in here four or five 8 times a year that says these things, and you're the -- where 9 the rubber meets the road, and I kind of want to know. 10 MR. CURRY: He and I talk about it frequently. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, I imagine. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And it may be that more 13 increased staff in the D.A.'s office may be more important 14 than bringing in visiting judges, 'cause most of these things 15 never go to trial anyway. So, I mean, consider -- 16 MR. CURRY: Yeah, clearing out the... 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That may -- I mean, we just 18 need to figure out if there's anything that we can do short 19 of building a new jail to get things moving quicker, wherever 20 that is. 21 MR. CURRY: I know that when we added our staff 22 person y'all were kind enough to give us last time, that has 23 really helped a lot. And I'm not going to say the numbers 24 have come down, because they've gone up in volume, but as far 25 as moving cases out, he's done a great job. We've moved lots 7-23-08 bwk 74 1 of cases. And if y'all will recall, all of a sudden in 2 Kendall County, there was this idea of having a County Court 3 at Law Judge hearing -- and that's the less problematic 4 county. It really wasn't going to solve a lot of the 5 problems, but that was the problem they left out of the 6 equation, the prosecutor, and that would just cause us a 7 problem. We'd be sending somebody off to another judge in 8 another county, and just kind of eliminating the advantage we 9 got from this individual if we do that, just to try one case. 10 I mean, that's all you're knocking off the docket. So, I -- 11 that, unfortunately, is one of the byproducts when you do -- 12 start doing that. You need to have warm bodies to do it, or 13 you start taking away from the ability to clear these -- 14 these cases. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I -- yeah. I mean, the 16 D.A.'s as important -- if you're going to increase judges, 17 you got to increase the D.A.'s. Otherwise, you're not 18 helping anyway. 19 MR. CURRY: Or lean on the County Attorney 20 somewhere. There's got to be a warm body somewhere. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Got to have a prosecutor come 22 from somewhere. Okay. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: What I'm hearing from you is that, 24 while the additional prosecutors have helped your disposition 25 rate or numbers, the new case -- new cases coming online is 7-23-08 bwk 75 1 outrunning that. 2 MR. CURRY: I think so. Bandera and Kerr, 3 particularly. We had 40-something indictments, as an 4 example, this month in Kerr County, and Amos probably had 5 similar. I don't know. But, you know, we're not dumping out 6 that many cases. We may -- we might have been getting rid of 7 five or six. Now we're getting rid of 20 or 25, but the math 8 isn't there, and as that goes up, it's just slowly, that 9 docket continues to increase. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Your disposition rate has increased 11 from 5 to 10 to 25, but you got another 40 coming online each 12 month. 13 MR. CURRY: Each month, that's right. And we're 14 not having many breaks; that's the problem. Every once in a 15 while, we used to have a 10-day. That doesn't happen very 16 much, and so -- and then Bandera's is the other problem, 17 'cause they're nearly -- you know, my position, that makes 18 sense, but their case load is nearly like Kerr's. Of course, 19 we're half of Kerr, but their case load is nearly our half of 20 Kerr, so we're getting always in excess of 20, frequently in 21 excess of 30 indictments over there. That's the problem. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for Mr. Curry? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Go ahead. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, go ahead. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The -- I just -- I just 7-23-08 bwk 76 1 noticed this, Bruce, this car allowance thing. Is this 2 something new? 3 MR. CURRY: I'm sorry, the what? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Car allowance. 5 MR. CURRY: Yes, it is. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: On the assistants and the 7 investigator. 8 MR. CURRY: Yes. I think that that -- and Jeannie 9 was telling me about that. I think she was telling me -- we 10 had talked about fact that the cost of gasoline has gone up, 11 and I had asked about that, and she said, you know, it's 12 included, I think, as salary. You call it an allowance, and 13 that's -- that's sort of built in, I think, in the salary 14 increase request, because these particular employees all 15 drive around the counties. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 17 MR. CURRY: And that's where -- 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. What did we do before 19 this? 20 MR. CURRY: We didn't have anything. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It just came out of their 22 pocket, huh? 23 MR. CURRY: That's right. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Part of the job. 25 MR. CURRY: That's the way we handle it. I hired 7-23-08 bwk 77 1 them with that in mind, 'cause two of my employees live out 2 of county, and so that's just getting to the office. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And so this is basically 4 what we're talking about for everyone, is just put it in the 5 salary, and -- 6 MS. HARGIS: Show it as -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- beat the federal 8 government. Is that what we're doing? 9 MS. HARGIS: Well, no. You obey the federal 10 government. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Not exactly. 12 MS. HARGIS: You show it as a car allowance in 13 their salary line item, but it takes the FICA and the 14 Medicare out, and that's what they're looking for. 15 Unfortunately, a lot of folks have misused car allowances 16 throughout all industries, you know, whether it be government 17 or whatever, and so they're closing the gap, and it's 18 basically what happens. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the $3,000, both 21 assistants, or that's $3,000 each? 22 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And investigator's another 24 $3,000, so that's $9,000 total for the travel thing. And 25 you -- did you just pull that number out of the air? 7-23-08 bwk 78 1 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, we did, considering -- 2 MR. CURRY: It is, I'm sure, calculated higher, 3 frankly, for the 58 cents a mile. 4 MS. HARGIS: We came up to 500, 550, and so that's 5 really only paying for half of what they drive. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm not complaining. I'm 7 trying to think, you know, how we're going to do it for our 8 people when we get to that point. 9 MS. HARGIS: He estimated what he thought that one 10 of them would travel based on a current month, and we came up 11 with -- it would end up being about 550 or 600 a month, and 12 he felt that he couldn't justify that, so that's -- we kind 13 of cut it in half, and that's what we have. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I know it gets rolled into the 15 salary. My -- I don't care about that part of it right now, 16 but just more a Court discussion up here. Is it better to 17 keep track of it as a separate line item, or just put it as 18 part of salary? Because I know when I first became a 19 Commissioner, going on, what, over 10 years ago now, a lot of 20 the individuals had that. There was a -- 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Hundred dollars a month. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- hundred dollars a month 23 travel allowance. That $100 a month, and we got rid of that 24 and put it in the salary, and now we're going back to talking 25 about a travel allowance again. And -- you know, and I'm -- 7-23-08 bwk 79 1 and that travel allowance has been increased with every 2 cost-of-living adjustment over the years, and all of a sudden 3 we're saying no one's getting car allowance. Well, everyone 4 isn't, but a lot are, because it was in their salary rolled 5 in, I know, ten years ago. And I don't know if it was in 6 this case, but I think that -- and I was an advocate of 7 rolling it into salary, 'cause that's what it is, but, 8 really, I've switched by my position 180 degrees. I think 9 it's better to keep them separate, because that prevents us 10 from going in there, saying, "We need to give travel 11 allowances" ten years down the road. 12 MS. HARGIS: We want it as a separate line item, 13 okay? It'll be in their salary, but it will show as a car 14 allowance on their stubs, so when they get their pay stub at 15 the end of the year, it will say car allowance "X", and 16 then -- but the FICA and Social Security will be taken out of 17 it. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I want a separate line item -- 19 separate line item under the budgets. 20 MS. HARGIS: In the budget? Okay, no problem. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's easier to keep 22 track of it and make sure we're being consistent. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He is right. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I like that. Separate it. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Curry, the -- the -- some of 7-23-08 bwk 80 1 your clerical people do travel also? My -- my understanding 2 is that last year, you created a methodology to see that they 3 were compensated for their use of their personal vehicles? 4 MR. CURRY: Yes, sir. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. That's worked out okay? 6 MR. CURRY: I think so. It comes out -- I think it 7 comes out of the reimbursed travel item in the middle. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What is the method, 9 Mr. D.A.? What is the method you use for -- 10 MR. CURRY: We use -- 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- reimbursement? 12 MR. CURRY: -- the mileage rate. Whatever those 13 charts are, at the going rate. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: At the state rate? 15 MR. CURRY: Fifty-eight cents a mile. And the 16 clerical people don't go out as much as the lawyers and the 17 investigators, so it's usually just the -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Out of county? 19 MR. CURRY: -- pretrials. For example, they don't 20 go to grand juries and trials and things, so it's usually 21 once a week for the primary thing. And then if a special 22 deal comes up, they just calculate it on a per-trip basis. 23 MS. HARGIS: This is by county, by the way. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Out of county? 25 MS. HARGIS: Out of county. 7-23-08 bwk 81 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. Any other questions for 2 Mr. Curry? Okay. Are we all through there? Okay, let's go 3 to County Judge. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, 198th. What about his? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh, okay. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's been sitting here all 7 morning, and to not get the chance to participate -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: My apologies. My apologies. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know where it is. What 10 is that? Fund 10 or fund -- fund something else, the 198th? 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Next page. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Next page. 13 MS. HARGIS: It's shown in Fund 10, and then 14 it's -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just got a summary of that, 16 too. 17 MS. HARGIS: It's in the 80's. It's in both 18 places. It's detailed in a different spot than the -- 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: This is Kerr County's 20 portion. It says here, "Portion based on case load, 21 56.24 percent." And this budget, too, has gone up by 22 $80,000, 50 percent. 23 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir, that one is right, because 24 we put the full salary for -- for Amos in there. Amos, do 25 you want to talk about that? 7-23-08 bwk 82 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah, Amos, you need to 2 explain that one. 3 MR. BARTON: Help me again. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Wait. Wait. I want to find 5 the detail before we go. 6 MS. HARGIS: Okay, go down. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't see it. 8 MR. RUARK: That's what I'm looking for, Jeannie. 9 What is it? 10 MS. HARGIS: Down by -- 81, 83 -- slow down a 11 minute. No, I don't think -- I think I just have his on a 12 spreadsheet, 'cause we don't keep their books, so I just have 13 a spreadsheet on it, on the 198th. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What page is that on, Ken? 15 MS. HARGIS: It's in 10-445-330. And that's the 16 reason why I put that little note in there. That's the only 17 place we show theirs. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, that doesn't have the detail. 19 MS. HARGIS: He has a copy of his detail. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He has a copy of it. 21 MR. BARTON: That's the copy of the doodad I gave 22 you that is on the old bookkeeping system, because -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we don't keep your books on 24 that. Why don't you let Jody make a copy of that right quick 25 so that we can all be looking at the same thing? We'll -- we 7-23-08 bwk 83 1 get confused enough when we're looking at the same thing. 2 When we're not, we really get confused. 3 MR. BARTON: Hopefully, that'll change. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, and one of the problems you've 5 got is that you've got one-fourth of your -- of the year that 6 you're not in control of the budget, and three-fourths of the 7 year you are in control of the budget, essentially. 8 MR. BARTON: And I'm kind of coming in blind. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. You're in the hiatus. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do you want some glasses? 11 MR. BARTON: Yeah, right. 12 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's the page number on 13 that, Judge? 198th -- oh, up at the top. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 24. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: There, 216th -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 198th is on Page 24. 17 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We're going to have paper. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it doesn't have -- here's 19 the detail coming out. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: There you go. 21 MR. BARTON: Judge, would you like me to just walk 22 you through the format here? 'Cause I think it's a 23 substantial deviation from what y'all are used to looking at. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. We've had that problem 25 previously, so it would probably be helpful if you'd kind of 7-23-08 bwk 84 1 lead us by the hand. 2 MR. BARTON: Sure. Looking at the -- the column 3 names, annualized expenditure, for the previous budget year, 4 what you're seeing there are -- that's just salary items for 5 the individual positions that we've got. Then you move over 6 one column, and you're going to see subtotals right there, so 7 you see 244,000, right there under the subtotal. That 244 is 8 the sum of all the annualized previous year expenditure, 9 okay? And then you can just follow that down for each of the 10 line items under the annualized, so that kind of gives you 11 what we've been doing in the past year. Then move over one 12 more column, and you see the same -- same thing replicated. 13 I broke it down by the individual positions that we've got, 14 so you can see how much each position is -- we're proposing 15 that the budget contribute to. And then move over to the 16 final column over there to see the subtotals and then the 17 line items for the amount that's being requested. So, the 18 best way, I think, to look at it is to look at Column 2 and 19 Column 4 to see -- here's our actual numbers from the 20 previous year, and then 4, what we're asking for from the 21 budget. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Actually, your personnel costs to 24 the County has gone to -- the County's has gone down. 25 MR. BARTON: For example, if you look under the 7-23-08 bwk 85 1 support staff, where you see accounting, office manager, 2 paralegal, legal assistant, our actual costs are 120,581 for 3 that, annualized for this past year. We're requesting 90,000 4 for our -- and that's our total budget district-wide. And 5 then we go -- we take our total budget and we apportion it 6 out, and we do it on a different -- a different way to the 7 benefit of Kerr County than -- than the 216th. If we do it 8 by population, you know, we're -- yeah, it goes from Kerr 9 County being at 56 and a quarter percent to about, I think -- 10 didn't we calculate 70-something -- 72 or 73 percent. So, 11 what -- what we do is, we take the Office of Court 12 Administration numbers for the number of cases that are 13 handled, and we do a pro rata apportionment based on the 14 actual case load, what is -- what are we doing for each 15 county, and apportioning it that way. And that comes out 16 better for Kerr County by about 20-something percent -- well, 17 almost 20 percent. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The number we're looking at 19 is for Kerr County only? Or is this district-wide? 20 MR. BARTON: Yeah. Let me show you where the Kerr 21 County number comes from. Down here at the bottom, where you 22 see proposed apportionment by county, -- 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 24 MR. BARTON: -- Kerr County's percent contribution 25 to the budget is 56 and a quarter. So, you take that 344 of 7-23-08 bwk 86 1 the total budget request that you see in bold over there on 2 the -- 3 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay, I see it. 4 MR. BARTON: Then you take 56 and a quarter -- 5 56.24 percent, to come up with the 193 that's reflected on 6 your -- on your lump sum. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Got you. 8 MR. BARTON: What I've done is, I kind of have 9 limited ability to assess some of the costs. For example, I 10 do know that library expenses for our office, that you can 11 see under books and publications, was 13,400, and then 12 there's another Westlaw expense for 8,300. We're like a lot 13 of the other offices, moving more digital and away from the 14 paper library and stuff like that, so I have all but zeroed 15 out the -- the library expenses. I think I've got $500 in 16 there, and -- and those are to cover the cost of some books 17 that the County and District Attorneys Association comes out 18 with that they don't have in a digital format. So -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Speaking of digital and technology, 20 where are we on your thinking with regard to video 21 teleconferencing? 22 MR. BARTON: I think it's great, number one. I 23 think that it's inevitable. I think we're going there. I 24 don't think we're ready to do it. I don't think our 25 constituency in the outlying counties, my western counties, 7-23-08 bwk 87 1 are ready for it. We go out there once a month, basically, 2 and we conduct our Grand Jury sessions contemporaneously with 3 the pretrial sessions that we have. So, figuring out -- the 4 whole purpose being increased efficiency and decreased 5 duplication. If I've got to go out there to conduct my Grand 6 Jury anyway, I don't think that can really be done remotely, 7 in all fairness to the voters, and -- 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I would agree on the grand -- if 9 you've got a Grand Jury that's going to be reporting. 10 MR. BARTON: Which we do. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Absolutely. 12 MR. BARTON: Monthly, and so it actually works 13 pretty well. We go out there; we pull -- actually get to see 14 our officers. The great majority of our coaching that I 15 think is imperative to the relationship between the D.A.'s 16 office and law enforcement is done when we're out there. And 17 we have Todd, who runs back and forth as our investigator, 18 and they get a lot of coaching that way. But when it comes 19 to the legal issues, that's when we're really getting the 20 touch on them; it's at our Grand Jury sessions. We tell them 21 the problems with their cases and things like that. I think 22 Bruce is able to have his officers actually come into 23 Kerrville for their case review and coaching sessions, which 24 I would like to see if we can kind of mirror -- mirror that. 25 But it's got to be done one way or another. 7-23-08 bwk 88 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, you know, I acknowledge that, 2 you know, there -- you've got to have some presence out in 3 the counties where you're an elected official, and -- 4 MR. BARTON: And we've got it limited to one day a 5 month. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: For Grand Jury, you -- it's 7 imperative that you have face time with those grand jurors 8 and -- and that process. But, certainly, there are other 9 times when you've got possibly pretrial proceedings or pleas 10 that can be disposed of, that might be beneficial to go ahead 11 and get those rolled out that you could do remotely. That's 12 where I see the benefit, is out of the ordinary once-a-month 13 face time with your Grand Juries and so forth. 14 MR. BARTON: I think if we do have the need for 15 hearings outside the one -- one time a month, then we can 16 pretty quickly get to that break-even point. The truth is, 17 over in Mason and Menard, we're just -- one day a month is -- 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Oh. 19 MR. BARTON: -- is meeting our needs out there. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 21 MR. BARTON: And meeting their needs. Now, they -- 22 they do have some complaints about not seeing their elected 23 officials as much as they like to, but that's nothing that, 24 really, video conferencing is going to rectify. It's -- I 25 think the use that I see in the near future is at the local 7-23-08 bwk 89 1 level. You know, if it saves manpower and money not 2 transporting inmates, and we're able to do something here 3 within Kerr County, that's an immediate benefit to your 4 constituency, and it seems like what we're talking about 5 would really inure to the benefit of western counties. But I 6 think that the video conferencing would most directly benefit 7 Kerr County with its use here in Kerr County. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Before I -- before he gets loose, I 9 want to see what Bruce's thoughts are on the video 10 teleconferencing. 11 MR. CURRY: Oh, I -- to tell you the truth, I think 12 kind of like what I was telling Mr. Baldwin. Try it and see. 13 I've got some doubts about it as a practical matter in a lot 14 of sessions, because you're going to have to go out there 15 for -- even if it's just a few things, you've got to be out 16 there anyway. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: You're talking about the other 18 counties? 19 MR. CURRY: The other counties, I'm talking about. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 21 MR. CURRY: If you're going to be out there anyway, 22 we can do them then, and that takes care of it. We also go 23 to each county one time a month. We're a little bit 24 different than 198th, of course, a little different 25 situation, because luckily we're centrally located. We're 30 7-23-08 bwk 90 1 miles from everybody, and I think they're -- how many miles 2 you got? 3 MR. BARTON: It's an hour and a half for me to get 4 to Brady. 5 MR. CURRY: Some of those, it's a little different 6 situation. But it's a tryable thing. I may just be -- maybe 7 I'm not thinking about it right. I've never done it, so I 8 don't know, but we can try it. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: What about locally? 10 MR. CURRY: Oh, I think you would have a big 11 function here. It's just not going to save mileage. I 12 thought that's -- yeah -- but, oh, yeah, I think you can do 13 it locally and save some time, because you can run 14 multi-dockets in Kerr County a lot easier. We'd have that, 15 plus we'd have a face-to-face thing. But if we do it in 16 another county, that's -- you know, that's kind of 17 duplication. We can do it all at one time over there. 18 MR. BARTON: And, Judge, you may be familiar with 19 the practicality of case resolution. A lot of things are 20 done outside the formal hearing, and so me being there with 21 the defense attorney instead of over a computer screen, 22 there's a lot of, "Hey, can we work this out?" deal going on 23 outside the formal hearing. And I would hate to kill that by 24 having a -- a video conference. Just -- and just watching 25 what the County Court at Law has been doing, it seems like 7-23-08 bwk 91 1 there has to be another meeting between the prosecutor and 2 the defense attorney, 'cause the actual exchange that happens 3 over the video conference is -- is pretty cold. It's a 4 formal hearing, is what it is, and there's not much of this, 5 "Come on, work it out. My guy's a nice guy," and -- and, you 6 know, the banter between the attorneys that actually gets 7 cases resolved and gets the jail emptied out. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: I agree. It's something that -- 9 that the Bar would have to get into also, and there would be 10 adjustment for them, because a lot of it is a professional 11 exchange as between the prosecutor and the defense lawyers, 12 and -- and you've got to create the environment for that 13 incentive, and dragging them into the courthouse seems to do 14 that. I understand. I've been there. I'm sorry, continue. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a couple -- a 16 couple questions so that I'll understand what you're doing 17 here. Let's go back up to the salaries deal. Assistant 18 D.A.'s salaries. 19 MR. BARTON: Yes, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're reducing -- 21 MR. BARTON: No, sir. I see what you're saying. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 23 MR. BARTON: Okay. Annualized expenditures is 24 89,658; that's the actual money paid out to the assistant, 25 and then the other assistant is getting 85,000. So, what 7-23-08 bwk 92 1 we're doing is, we're apprising the Commissioners Court of 2 that actual expenditure. However, we're only asking the 3 respective counties in total to contribute $65,000 toward 4 that actual expenditure, and the reason for that is, those 5 salaries are paid in part out of Chapter 59 asset forfeiture 6 funds, okay? So, that's -- that's something that -- that the 7 current District Attorney has been doing for a while. 8 Frankly, it scares me a little bit that I've got assistants 9 that -- I would -- you know, talking in the future, if 10 everything goes well, I would have assistants that are being 11 paid out of those asset forfeiture funds by about a full 12 third of their salary is paid by money that can -- it can 13 absolutely vaporize. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What happens if that 15 disappears? Then you come back to us and say, "God, we've 16 got to pick this thing up"? 17 MR. BARTON: Well, I don't think I'll do that. I 18 have -- I talked to Mr. Sutton about that. And there -- 19 there are some things that are beyond Mr. Sutton's control 20 with the Legislature. And -- and maybe that money does 21 vaporize, and we've got to address it then. But, you know, 22 that -- it's going to take a legislative change for us to get 23 in a bind, and then in the immediate upcoming year, what 24 would happen -- I've talked with Mr. Sutton, and I have every 25 confidence that there would be sufficient assets in the 7-23-08 bwk 93 1 forfeiture fund to meet the operational requirements for the 2 D.A.'s office in the upcoming budget year. And I don't think 3 the Legislature would be able to enact some dramatic changes 4 in the Chapter 59 asset forfeiture fund usage that would 5 change us in the next budget year. But if that happens, 6 Commissioner, we -- we're going to have to really talk about, 7 "How do we feed this machine?" 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 9 MR. BARTON: You know, we're able to -- to have a 10 pretty good -- I'm happy with the level of staff that we've 11 got. And I'm real excited about moving the main office over 12 here to Kerr County, because what it essentially does is, 13 instead of us asking for another assistant, I think we can 14 achieve some of the things that you're talking about, 15 Commissioner, where you say, "If we could get another 16 prosecutor here..." In effect, by moving the main office 17 over here, we're going to get another prosecutor here. So, 18 if I'm in Brady handling Grand Jury, then I'll have a chief 19 assistant who will be located here who can manage -- if we 20 have a visiting judge, manage and operate a full docket here 21 on his or her own. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: When you speak of the legislative 23 rate on the forfeiture funds, which is what you're speaking 24 of, the probability of the earliest that could be impacted by 25 the Legislature next year would probably be September 1, 7-23-08 bwk 94 1 which would leave us with maybe one month that we'd have to 2 deal with. 3 MR. BARTON: That's correct. That's -- 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Is that kind of how you analyze it? 5 MR. BARTON: That's why I said that. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Amos? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If they change it. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm, yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't understand -- if I look 10 under the second column, I come up with a subtotal of 562. 11 MR. BARTON: Yes, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And you go to the next -- 13 Column 4, it's 378. 14 MR. BARTON: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Which is a big decrease. 16 MR. BARTON: Yes, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yet the budget increases by 18 50 percent. 19 MR. BARTON: Okay, I'll explain that. The 562 is 20 the actual cost of running the office for the whole district. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, the actual -- and that 22 includes the forfeiture funds? 23 MR. BARTON: That is right. That includes money 24 paid out of forfeiture funds. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 7-23-08 bwk 95 1 MR. BARTON: 378 is all that the D.A. is asking 2 from the taxpayers for the entire district. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 4 MR. BARTON: Then you see the apportionments. Now, 5 what you might see over here -- and I put in all the 6 information, if you guys think it's interesting or relevant; 7 the percentage increases, and the actual dollars, the change 8 in money -- actual dollars from the previous budget that the 9 D.A.'s office gave to the Commissioners Court. And you see a 10 50 percent increase for Kerr County. That's reflective of 11 the growth that Kerr County has had in the docket, and a 12 contemporaneous decrease in case load in two of our counties 13 in Brady and -- I want to say Mason. So, you see their 14 numbers actually going down in McCullough and Mason Counties, 15 so you're seeing an actual dollar increase in Kerr County at 16 $65,000. As -- as the contribution -- as the case load 17 changes, the apportionment changes, and the -- as the budget 18 is going up and the apportionment changes, it's kind of like 19 Kerr County got a -- got a $65,000 increase. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That makes sense. 21 MR. BARTON: And also, the -- what you're seeing is 22 a shift. What I'm trying to do is -- is get the budget 23 that's contributed -- the portion of the budget that's 24 contributed by taxpayer funds, not asset forfeiture funds, 25 I'm trying to get that at a level where we can operate a 7-23-08 bwk 96 1 skeleton crew D.A.'s office if there were no asset forfeiture 2 funds. So, what -- in a practical emergency escape plan, 3 what we've got is, we'd have to fire an assistant, and we'd 4 have to fire one or two support staff in order to be able to 5 operate the D.A.'s office with the money that's being 6 contributed by the taxpayers solely. That's -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My question then goes to Bruce. 8 What do you do with your asset forfeiture funds? Or do you 9 have a sizable one? 10 MR. CURRY: Well, we -- it's a mixture of things. 11 Never know, really. We use it for law enforcement if they 12 have a request for, you know, just an individual thing. 13 Conferences for those people, conferences for our staff. It 14 can be used to supplement on occasion. I haven't done that 15 lately, but you can supplement a salary from time to time. 16 You can use it for any law enforcement thing for the office, 17 is what it amounts to. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is your fund -- or yours is 19 larger? 20 MR. BARTON: Ours is. 21 MR. CURRY: Yeah, ours is not -- we haven't been 22 blessed with the -- the -- 23 JUDGE TINLEY: What's the approximate balance in 24 your asset forfeiture funds or discretionary funds? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just talk about all of them. 7-23-08 bwk 97 1 How many discretionary funds do you have? 2 MR. CURRY: I would say about maybe 50,000. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Total? 4 MR. CURRY: Forty, 50. I'm not certain, to be 5 honest with you. 6 MS. HARGIS: He has two, but they're not 7 substantial. They're not substantial funds. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Define "substantial." 9 MS. HARGIS: I think in the old one, you may have 10 125, and then in the new one you have, like, 35. I think 11 it's maybe a total of 150,000. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: 150,000? 13 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, but I haven't looked at it in a 14 while, Judge, so -- 15 JUDGE TINLEY: And that's not substantial? 16 MR. CURRY: I thought that the 125 was the one 17 we -- 18 MS. HARGIS: Cut down? 19 MR. CURRY: I thought. I may be mistaken. I 20 haven't looked at those. 21 MS. HARGIS: They don't bring them over but about 22 once every six months, so I haven't looked at them in a 23 while. I'd have to look at them. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Best estimate you have now is about 25 175, then? 7-23-08 bwk 98 1 MS. HARGIS: No, I wouldn't say it's that much. I 2 would say a maximum of 150, and it may be closer to 100. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Amos, what do you have? 4 MR. BARTON: I was looking to see if I brought a 5 printout. The -- the slippery slope that we get into is the 6 A.G.'s have said we don't get to consider the availability of 7 asset forfeiture funds in our budget talks. But -- 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I'm just curious. 9 MR. BARTON: I don't have a number. I've got the 10 expenses out of the forfeiture fund that Janet printed out 11 for me before her retirement. And I -- my understanding from 12 hearing talk around the office is that it's about a million 13 dollars. I don't know -- I just don't know. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: In whose county do these 15 funds reside? 16 MR. BARTON: That's in Kimble County, which is 17 where the main D.A.'s office is located. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that going to get 19 transferred? 20 MR. BARTON: I don't know yet. It might be 21 premature for me to -- 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is most of it generated out of 23 Kimble County? Or -- 24 MR. BARTON: I would say to the tune of 100 25 percent. 7-23-08 bwk 99 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Are you kidding me? They 2 have a deputy sheriff every 50 yards on the interstate, in 3 all them new cars. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And due to the -- it's due to 5 the Sheriff's Department in Kimble County. 6 MR. BARTON: That's correct, the drug interdiction 7 program in Kimble County. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I tell you what I'm 9 seeing. I'm going to try to get off that topic, if I can. 10 What I'm seeing is an honest budget. I mean, numbers -- I 11 appreciate the numbers put in there with the forfeiture 12 numbers added in. 13 MR. BARTON: And I'll tell you why. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're not trying to hide 15 anything, and I appreciate that. 16 MR. BARTON: Thank you. Why I did that is 'cause 17 we're actually required by law to do that. And I'm -- I'm 18 trying to -- 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's a good reason. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You know, this is something 21 new for us. You understand that? 22 MR. BARTON: Yes, sir. I think that you're 23 probably going to see a lot more dialogue between the D.A.'s 24 office and -- and you guys, and your counterparts in the 25 other counties. Watching the Senate judiciary hearings and 7-23-08 bwk 100 1 the Senate criminal justice hearings, that -- that they're 2 talking about forfeiture funds right now, and so this is a 3 hot topic. And oversight is something that -- that is 4 paramount, and I think it should be. So, what you're going 5 to see is, when we have changes, when we have expenditures 6 that come out of that, you're going -- there's some things 7 that have to be approved by the Commissioners. There's some 8 things that you have to be apprised of, and so I err on the 9 side of overkill, and let the sun shine in on it, and you're 10 going to -- you're going to probably get more than you want. 11 One of the things that you're seeing in the line items that 12 we have under accounting -- accounting was you're seeing it 13 go down from 31,000 to 10,000. We're actually replacing a 14 staff person with an outside C.P.A. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Contract. 16 MR. BARTON: And they're going to -- and that was 17 the best way I knew to put that in there, just so you -- you 18 guys understand that that's -- I think it could very well be 19 contract services, a line item for contract services. But 20 since we're phasing one position into a contract service, 21 that's the way I listed it on the line item. I've talked to 22 a couple of accounting firms here, local businesses that will 23 keep the books and help comply with all the reporting 24 requirements and the apprisement to you guys. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: I appreciate your philosophy of 7-23-08 bwk 101 1 openness and shining the light of day on what you're doing. 2 Like you, I agree that when in doubt, just let it out there 3 for the whole world to look at, and let the chips fall where 4 they may. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Because we are required to 6 provide you with enough money to run your office, basically. 7 So -- 8 MR. BARTON: As long as -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- you're safe there. 10 MR. BARTON: As long as the money's there, and the 11 Court is aware of what it takes to feed the machine, I -- I 12 think that the taxpayers should get the benefit out there in 13 whole district of that fund. And so, if we're able to pay 14 more than a third of the budget out of the asset forfeiture 15 fund, I think it's great. We just have to know where our 16 line is on that A.G.'s opinion that says we're really not to 17 consider the availability of the asset forfeiture fund. So, 18 that's -- 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Any more questions for Mr. Barton? 22 Okay. Now, let's move on to County Judge. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Page 5. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this salary increase -- 7-23-08 bwk 102 1 is that the 10 percent? 2 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You can take that out. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: There we go. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What's the part-time salary 6 longevity item? 7 JUDGE TINLEY: That needs to be deleted. I don't 8 know how that got in there. And, in fact, it's been deleted 9 on mine. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It's been zeroed out on the 11 next -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I never did know how that got in -- 13 you remember we talked about something last year in this 14 process about some sort of longevity, and how that got put in 15 there, I don't know. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah, that was last year's 17 discussion. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Left over from Bill Stacy. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Could be. 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No, we talked about it last 21 year. I'm like the Judge. How'd it get in here? I don't 22 know. We didn't do it. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Basically the same as last 24 year. Let's move on. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask you a question. 7-23-08 bwk 103 1 Conference dues. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It looks like you're 4 projected to spend 1,275, and you're only putting 12 in? 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Actually, what happened, a portion 6 of that -- and there was a budget amendment to handle that, 7 that we corrected that. A portion of some of that should 8 have come from another line item, and it got charged there 9 and I got overdrawn. So, 1,200 is adequate, I think. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, fine. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: I've got other conference in the 13 County Court budget that you're going to see here in a little 14 bit, so I've got two of them available. But I've got, of 15 course, mental health; I've got -- I've got juvenile, and 16 then just generally, the -- the County Judge. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. This one here, you 18 kind of hang out with us sometimes. 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, that's right. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: And I think the allowance in your 22 budget is 1,500 per, if I'm not mistaken. Total of 6,000, I 23 believe, for conferences in Commissioners' budget. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's about right. 25 That's knocking on the door, but -- 7-23-08 bwk 104 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Of course, it's a race to who gets 2 there first, I guess. 3 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Somebody else has been 4 dipping a lot more than I have. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know about that, 6 Bruce. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else on that one? 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I haven't spent any yet. 9 Getting ready to turn in two bills. 10 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Better hurry up; there 11 won't be any left. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Better get there before Bill 13 does. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: No. No, don't go there. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Hargis, I don't know what -- how 16 you want to handle the -- the group insurance. That's 17 showing zero, but on the opt out, there's certain other 18 coverage that comes into play, at considerably less cost. 19 MS. HARGIS: I'll have to check. I'll check 20 with -- 21 JUDGE TINLEY: You see where I'm coming from? 22 MS. HARGIS: Yes, I do. It's a rebate back, I 23 think, based on what your percentage is. 24 MS. HYDE: It's just -- 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Under the plan, there's a portion of 7-23-08 bwk 105 1 the other coverage that I -- that I have, a very small 2 portion of it that's covered. 3 MS. HARGIS: I'll plug that in. I'll look that up. 4 I don't know if there's any increase on that, but I'll put an 5 8 percent on that one as well, just in case. 'Cause we had 6 8 percent on the group insurance, so the other coverages 7 could go up as well. 8 MS. HYDE: It's the same as the retirees. 9 MS. HARGIS: Is it? 10 MS. HYDE: Yeah. So, whatever the decision is on 11 the retirees, that -- that would be what it would go to. 12 Right now it's 135. 13 MS. HARGIS: A month? 14 MS. HYDE: Yeah, but I'm asking for a $20 or $25 15 increase on the retirees -- current retirees, and then -- 16 that was what we talked about last time. And then anyone 17 that retires from here on would pay more. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. We done with that one? 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yep. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, let's move to County Court. 21 Page 13. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 13. Now, the conference 23 line under this one, does that cover, like, probate and 24 things like that, schools? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: There's a separate one for probate 7-23-08 bwk 106 1 you'll see, but that covers juvenile and mental health. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Juvenile and mental health, 3 okay. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see probate seminar. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why do you have that broken 8 out? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Because there's a -- there's a 10 separate account that's created by the County Clerk out of -- 11 there's a separate fund that's charged on probate cases that 12 creates a probate education fund, or it's a probate education 13 fee, and by statute, that can only be used for probate 14 education, as it were. Her -- her staff, Becky Bolin that 15 works in her office, and myself, we're the ones that 16 primarily use that now for probate education, but that's 17 funded out of that portion of it. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Is that a fee that 19 some judge assesses somewhere? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Every time a probate case is filed, 21 there's a probate education fee that's charged as part of 22 that. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: And that fund builds up. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. Super. 7-23-08 bwk 107 1 JUDGE TINLEY: It's kind of like some of these 2 other records management fees that can only be used for 3 specific purposes, and that's what we use it for. I came 4 down a little bit on my court appointed attorneys. 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm, sure did. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Reduced the supplement a little bit 7 because of the number of cases coming down a little. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's good. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Not much of a change. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, in the non -- non-personnel 11 items, why, it's actually down some. Okay. Anything else on 12 that one? 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No, sir. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, what do we got next? 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: The Tax Assessor. 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Tax Assessor? Okay. 17 MR. BOLLIER: Which one do you want to do first? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What number are you on? 19 MS. BOLIN: 499 and 402. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 499, Page 37. 21 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 37? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is this salary increase -- 23 is that the 10 percent? "Yes, Buster, it is." 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yes, Buster, it is. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 7-23-08 bwk 108 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2 MS. BOLIN: First thing, the mail budget -- 3 postage, I need to drop that. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Need to drop what? 5 MS. BOLIN: The postage budget, Line Item 309. 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Mm-hmm. 7 MS. BOLIN: To 15,000. Most of that is because 8 part of it went to elections, the election services. And we 9 have a substantial amount still in our postage budget this 10 year and in our postage machine. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: And you're coming to what on there, 12 13? 13 MS. BOLIN: Fifteen. 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Fifteen. 15 MS. BOLIN: It's going to cost me about 8,000 to 16 mail those statements this year. So -- 17 JUDGE TINLEY: I knew a lot of your postage was on 18 your voter registration mail-outs. 19 MS. BOLIN: Right. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: But now we're moving to voter 21 registration? 22 MS. BOLIN: We're moving all of that to the 23 election -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: To the election services. 25 MS. BOLIN: Yes. 7-23-08 bwk 109 1 JUDGE TINLEY: We've created a whole new monster 2 over there, as it were. 3 MS. BOLIN: More or less. We've been keeping track 4 of the differences and everything for a couple years now, so 5 it gave me a basis of what we have spent in voter 6 registration. So that -- 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, but the reason that your -- 8 that your budget request is down for the Tax Office -- 9 MS. BOLIN: Overall. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: -- is because a lot of this is, no 11 doubt, personnel-wise and so forth over to the -- 12 MS. BOLIN: Over to the -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: -- election services? 14 MS. BOLIN: Over to elections, yes. That's why one 15 increased and one decreased. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me ask the computer 17 folks something. I see that you changed -- you changed it up 18 there and made a note. Should we be changing -- 19 JUDGE TINLEY: You can't. 20 MR. RUARK: You can't get into this budget. You 21 can't get into the AR budget code. You can get into 22 Commissioners Court budget code. As this goes along, I'm 23 changing it on this. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. When does it change 25 here? 7-23-08 bwk 110 1 MR. RUARK: It will change on that report when 2 we -- well, you're looking at the Commissioners Court budget, 3 or -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. 5 MR. RUARK: Well, which one -- you have the AR? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm looking at anything. 7 Where is it going to change? 8 MR. RUARK: The report you have is -- when we rerun 9 it, we have to go out, come back in and rerun that report. 10 Then it will change. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: But some morning I'm going 12 to get up -- and probably not at home, 'cause they can't seem 13 to get me plugged in at home, but I'm going to get up some 14 morning and on that, the numbers are changed? 15 MR. RUARK: You -- 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And the notes are going to 17 be available there for me to see? 18 MR. RUARK: When we back out of this report and 19 rerun this report again, the change is there. 20 MS. HARGIS: The report will change, Buster, but 21 the Commissioners Court will have to be manually changed. 22 So, unless y'all want that one changed -- we opened that up 23 just for you to be able to put notes in, your own amount and 24 things in. Probably I won't go back, because I'd have to go 25 and literally input all of that separately. 7-23-08 bwk 111 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I would -- I mean, I think it 2 would be -- why don't we just delete the Commissioners Court 3 one and let us have a read-only on the one she's looking at? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, read-only is fine. I 5 mean, I just think it -- I just want to see at some point 6 what happened -- what we did and what happened. 7 MR. RUARK: The read-only is the report that you 8 have. 9 MS. HARGIS: You can look at that report at any 10 time. 11 MR. RUARK: Yeah. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's fine. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So, I can make changes on 14 mine -- if we keep Commissioners Court, I can change my 15 little Commissioners Court, then I can look at the real one? 16 MR. RUARK: Yeah. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I can just act like I'm 18 important. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, you could. 20 MS. HARGIS: The problem with it -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We could do it together. 22 MS. HARGIS: Unfortunately, we talked to y'all 23 about this. You can't change the numbers. If all four of 24 you change the numbers, they're going to change every time 25 one of you changes. What I suggested was each of you find a 7-23-08 bwk 112 1 box under the notes, as you recall, and choose one of those 2 boxes. Now, the notes carry through to all of the -- so if 3 you made a note in Commissioners Court, it would show up on 4 every budget. It flows through automatically, but the 5 numbers have to be manually changed or copied over. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: All I'm interested in is, 7 next Wednesday we have another one of these budget -- 8 MR. RUARK: You will have it. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Tuesday night, when I start 10 going in here and kind of reviewing, seeing where we're at 11 and what we did, all that kind of thing, kind of just getting 12 in tune here, then I'm going to see these changes? 13 MS. HARGIS: Yes, they're being made now. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In my computer? 15 MS. HARGIS: Yes. We'll open it up for y'all this 16 afternoon for read-only. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's groovy. Is that -- 18 MS. HARGIS: Is that all right? 19 MR. TROLINGER: Jeannie, that's a good point. This 20 has come up -- I've had a couple requests from the other 21 elected officials, can they see -- can they also have 22 read-only on this? 23 MR. RUARK: Well, wait a minute, guys. 24 MS. HARGIS: They pull the report up. They don't 25 need -- they can pull their own report up, just like we're 7-23-08 bwk 113 1 pulling this one up now. 2 MR. TROLINGER: But not the other budgets. 3 MS. HARGIS: They don't need to pull the other 4 budgets up, because the report reflects the changes. 5 MR. RUARK: Before you commit to that, Jeannie, 6 that we have read-only, I don't think they're going to get a 7 read-only. We have to look at that AR recommended budget. 8 You're either in the budget or you're not, so we have to look 9 at -- 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That will look at all the 11 budget. 12 MS. BOLIN: Are you talking about us opening other 13 offices' budgets? 14 MS. HARGIS: Unfortunately, if they open them up, 15 they can change it, and then we wouldn't know that they 16 changed them. 17 MR. RUARK: Let me figure out what you guys are 18 asking for, 'cause that wasn't part of the plan that we do 19 that. But I don't think we have the choice of change it or 20 read-only or something else. You can get that on the 21 department or in the report, but I have to look. So, we 22 can't commit to that at this point. 23 MS. HARGIS: The report itself shows the requested, 24 and it'll show the changes. 25 MR. RUARK: Yeah. 7-23-08 bwk 114 1 MS. HARGIS: Every -- every time we make a change, 2 if you pull up that report, it will reflect that. Which is 3 what you're looking at right now. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. What else do we have with 5 regard to the Tax Assessor? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Bottom line is your 7 budgets's up, what, 6,000 bucks? Bottom line? 8 MS. BOLIN: It's up? 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, it's down. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Down 30. 11 MS. BOLIN: It should be down substantially, since 12 I split it. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Actually 30 -- 40 because of 14 that other change. 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Yeah. You made the other 16 change to 15. That would be -- 17 MS. BOLIN: The increase -- the major increase that 18 I have is my software maintenance, and that's thanks to Tyler 19 increasing their maintenance fees. And my education, the 20 employee training, because I'm the first Tax Collector who 21 wants my people to go to school. It helps them overall 22 understand what they're doing and why they're doing it. It 23 has helped them tremendously, the two classes or three 24 classes they've gone to so far, to explain to the customer 25 what's happening, what the exemptions with the tax rates, the 7-23-08 bwk 115 1 whole nine yards. It would be like you trying to make my 2 budget without knowing what I'm doing. They had just one 3 little area; what we taught them is what they knew, where 4 when they go to school, they see everything that they don't 5 see but maybe a couple of times a year, yeah, but then 6 they're familiar with it. They know how to use the Tax Code 7 now, which they've never done before. They explain things. 8 They know how to write letters better so that people 9 understand what our point is and what we're trying to do. 10 They understand about penalties and interest, why we can't 11 waive them. They have done nothing but praise being able to 12 go to school. So, that's why mines's up. 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's up quite a bit. 14 MS. BOLIN: I have four people going, and that will 15 only last for probably the next three years, because then 16 they will be done with their courses and have their 17 certification. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That explanation is in your 19 next-year notes? 20 MS. BOLIN: Yes, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Sure is. 22 MS. BOLIN: I tried to explain everything that I 23 could. So -- 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's good. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other questions for -- 7-23-08 bwk 116 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I don't think so. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: -- Ms. Bolin? Okay. Do we need to 3 jump to Election Services now? 4 MS. BOLIN: Yes, sir. 5 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 6 MS. HARGIS: Close to the front. 7 MS. BOLIN: 402. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: 40 -- which? 9 MS. HARGIS: 402. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Page 7, Buster. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Page 7 Buster. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Just in case you didn't get 13 there, I'll point it out to you. 14 (Discussion off the record.) 15 MS. BOLIN: Because we moved the voter registration 16 stuff and made it its own little budget. That way, it gives 17 a complete picture of what our elections are costing. The 18 postage, when I talked to Nadene and Michelle this morning, 19 they said they thought about 8,000 would work. Next year it 20 will have to go up, because our voter registration cards go 21 out, but this year they don't. So, if y'all want to change 22 the 13 to 8, that would be fine by me. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: It's changed. 24 MR. RUARK: In postage? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: In postage, at 8,000. 7-23-08 bwk 117 1 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Down to 8? 2 MS. BOLIN: Yes. Judge, you lowered my -- the 3 election supplies from 3,300 to 3,000. The 3,300 is based on 4 actual cost. I had Nadene run it up, and it's within $26 of 5 the actual cost of 330 -- the 3,300. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: That's based on your actual cost? 7 MS. BOLIN: Yes, sir. 8 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Line 330. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 10 MS. BOLIN: So, if I can have the 3,300 back. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: You got it. 12 MS. BOLIN: Okay. The 9,850 for software 13 maintenance is actual. Nadene got the quote on that for me. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I don't think I messed with that, 15 did I? 16 MS. BOLIN: No, huh-uh. 17 MR. TROLINGER: I've got a question. Software 18 maintenance of what? 19 MS. BOLIN: For working with the election machines. 20 MR. TROLINGER: Ah, thank you. 21 MS. BOLIN: The only other thing that I added that 22 wasn't in there before was the mileage, and that's because 23 the girls have to go out and check A.D.A. compliance for the 24 polling places. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's another one. 7-23-08 bwk 118 1 MS. BOLIN: So, Nadene combined all the miles that 2 they would have to travel, and that's what that is total, 3 would be $153. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: We might want to treat that 5 differently, as you may -- 6 MS. BOLIN: Understood. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: -- have gathered from -- 8 MS. BOLIN: Right. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: -- from prior discussions. 10 MS. BOLIN: Yes, I did, but I wanted you to see 11 that I did have it there, so that -- 12 JUDGE TINLEY: This is in-county? 13 MS. BOLIN: In-county, yes, sir. All in-county. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Jon, a Prius with a C.D. 15 player in it. Boom, boom -- 16 MS. BOLIN: Right now we have Nadene's pickup doing 17 the running, so does that tell you anything? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I tell you what I'm going to do 19 right now. I'm going to zero that one out. 20 MS. BOLIN: Okay. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: I say I'm going to. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're zeroing what out? 23 MS. BOLIN: The mileage. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Mileage. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They're going with a Prius; 7-23-08 bwk 119 1 they're not going with a pickup. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: For some reason, I -- you got me 3 where I can't get in here. 4 MR. RUARK: Which account are you going to? 5 MS. HARGIS: Mileage, on the bottom. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: 426. 7 MS. HARGIS: At the bottom. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Mine's not registering. 9 MS. HYDE: It's up a little bit higher -- there it 10 is, 426. 11 MS. HARGIS: You have to go -- you have to go 12 through the distribution, because she did it by -- 13 MR. RUARK: That's what she did? There you go. 14 MS. HARGIS: You have to go through there. 15 MR. RUARK: I'll take care of it, Judge. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, you're zeroing that out? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. If we have to add something 18 to salary to get there, why, you know, that may be the way we 19 go. But on an in-county -- 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And you're going to make 21 some kind of note? 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: He's making a note. 23 MR. RUARK: I'm doing it now. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: For some reason, I can't change it 25 here, Ken. You got me locked out. 7-23-08 bwk 120 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Now you know what that feels 2 like, don't you? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. Welcome to the real 4 world, cowboy. We want to change them. 5 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Who's in the top line, the 6 salary line? 7 MR. RUARK: Okay, the reason you can't is because 8 you -- 9 MS. BOLIN: It would be Nadene, Michelle, and Eva, 10 the three clerks that work all the time in voter and 11 elections. 12 (Discussion off the record.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, they went to the detail to 14 plug it in. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Under your -- 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Under your year-end or your 18 employee training, next to your notes, you talk about going 19 from one clerk to four clerks for training. Who are they? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 21 MS. BOLIN: From four to three? 22 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: What it says. 23 MS. BOLIN: I have no idea. 24 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Pardon? 25 MS. BOLIN: I don't have that part of my notes 7-23-08 bwk 121 1 here, so I don't know. That was for -- 2 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Under employee training, 3 next year notes, going from one clerk to four clerks for 4 training. 5 MS. HARGIS: That probably includes you. 6 MS. BOLIN: Right, it does include me. 7 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 8 MR. RUARK: You can look up on the screen here. 9 MS. BOLIN: Oh, good, 'cause mine's cut off here. 10 Okay. 11 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: There are three in the line 12 item up on top. 13 MS. BOLIN: Right, but I've got -- 14 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Excluding you? 15 MS. BOLIN: Excluding me. Pam works with it 16 continually, but with her being chief deputy, she works in 17 all the departments, so I left that in the tax budget. And 18 then Lanelle, my clerk -- the motor vehicle supervisor, is 19 learning about elections and voter registration also to be 20 able to help during that time. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is my boy-dummy 23 question of the year. 24 MS. BOLIN: I'll gave you a girl-dummy answer. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, it's really not even 7-23-08 bwk 122 1 to you, but your election staff folks came down yesterday and 2 looked at my laptop. Are we -- do we have all the computer 3 type things off in a separate budget? 4 MS. BOLIN: Let me answer this one. We have -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why don't you answer it? 6 MS. BOLIN: Okay. We have HAVA funds still 7 available until December 31st, which is federal funds, and we 8 have voter registration funds from the state that are 9 available until the end of August. So, there are -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What are those funds for? 11 MS. BOLIN: Those funds, we get reimbursed for our 12 voter registration. The state gives us, like, a quarter on 13 one type of a change and 40 cents on another type or 14 whatever, for us to keep the voter records at a local level. 15 But that is not something that can be considered by the 16 Court. It's not a part of our budget; it's a state thing, 17 and that's all we can use it for, is voter registration 18 purposes. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We spend the money and they 20 reimburse us, and it's none of our business? 21 MS. BOLIN: You don't pay for the -- you don't get 22 to pay for the election seminar that we have to go to in 23 August. You only pay for one of the two. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whoop-de-do. 25 MS. BOLIN: Does that help? 7-23-08 bwk 123 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, that's great stuff. 2 MS. BOLIN: But, no, it's in the code that it 3 cannot be -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're buying the laptops 5 out of that fund? Is that what you're telling me? 6 MS. BOLIN: Yes. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You can't know it. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's none of my business. 9 MS. BOLIN: Well, no, y'all can know about it, 10 because then it becomes county property, but the County's not 11 having to pay for it. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 13 MS. BOLIN: That's how we got most of our computers 14 in our office. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, groovy. Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Under your salaries and 17 clerk, you talk about your -- you'd like to give a step 18 increase to a 13-3 position. 19 MS. BOLIN: That's -- 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Is that already accounted 21 for -- 22 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: -- in the work that Ms. 24 Hyde did? Or is it accounted for now in -- 25 MS. BOLIN: In the 10 percent now, right? 7-23-08 bwk 124 1 MS. HYDE: The step increase is in here, and the 2 10 percent. 3 MS. HARGIS: Oh, okay. That was before I knew 4 about the 10 percent. 5 MS. HYDE: What? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: The Auditor mentioned that she 7 upgraded the 13's effectively to 14's. 8 MS. BOLIN: Right. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: At the beginning of our discussion 10 here, and then applied the across-the-board 10 percent. 11 MS. BOLIN: And that would be fine. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Well, that effectively has 13 occurred. 14 MS. BOLIN: Right. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 16 MS. BOLIN: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: So that would need to come 18 out of yours, whatever it is. 19 MS. BOLIN: However. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's already in. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: That's already in. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in the numbers. 23 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 24 MS. HARGIS: It's in the numbers. She just wanted 25 you to know. 7-23-08 bwk 125 1 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Any more questions for 3 Ms. Bolin? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you. 5 MS. BOLIN: Ready to go to lunch? 6 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Yeah. 7 MS. BOLIN: Okay. Thank you, gentlemen, very much. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, Commissioners. The agenda 9 item is styled where you can wander wherever you want. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Let's talk about cattle guards. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: No, dealing with budgets. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: You didn't say that; you said 13 talk about anything. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything dealing with budgets; 15 fiscal, capital expenditures, and personnel matters related 16 thereto. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Buzzie's, Buzzie's. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, I'm hearing nothing more. 19 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: I'm closing her down. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll be adjourned. 21 (Budget workshop was adjourned at 12:01 p.m.) 22 - - - - - - - - - - 23 24 25 7-23-08 bwk 126 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 County Clerk of the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 5th day of August, 2008. 8 9 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 10 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 11 Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 7-23-08 bwk