1 2 3 4 5 6 7 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 8 Special Session 9 Wednesday, September 15, 2010 10 10:00 a.m. 11 Commissioners' Courtroom 12 Kerr County Courthouse 13 Kerrville, Texas 14 15 16 17 Public Hearing on proposed Kerr County 2010 Tax Rate 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 On Wednesday, September 15, 2010, at 10:00 a.m., a 2 special meeting of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was 3 held in 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: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. 8 Let me call to order this special meeting of the Kerr County 9 Commissioners Court posted and scheduled for this date and 10 time, Wednesday, September 15th, 2010, at 10 a.m. It is that 11 time now. Our purpose here today is to conduct a public 12 hearing with respect to the proposed Kerr County 2010 tax 13 rate, to give you an opportunity to be heard. Our purpose 14 here today will be to listen to you; not to get into a 15 discourse or discussion with you, but rather to listen to 16 you. So, at this time, I will convene a public hearing on 17 the proposed Kerr County 2010 tax rate. 18 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 10:00 a.m., and a public hearing was held in 19 open court, as follows:) 20 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Those of you that wish to be heard, 22 it would be helpful if you'd fill out a participation form. 23 They are located at the back of the room. If, for some 24 reason, you haven't filled one out, and we get through the 25 ones that have filled them out, and they're through saying 9-15-10 3 1 their piece, I'll give everyone else an opportunity to come 2 forward and tell us what's on their mind. But it helps me if 3 you fill out a participation form at the back of the room. 4 In either event, when you come forward to be heard, if you'd 5 be kind enough to clearly state your name and your residence 6 address, and then tell us what's on your mind. The first one 7 I have is H.J. Bronson. Mr. Bronson, come forward. Give us 8 your name and address and tell us what's on your mind. 9 MR. BRONSON: Thank you. H.J. Bronson, 10 B-r-o-n-s-o-n, 154 Aqua Vista Drive. This just came to my 11 attention in this morning's paper, so I didn't have lots of 12 time to -- to think about it, but I'm concerned about the 13 ruling that was reported on in the paper today about hiring 14 or not hiring budgeted positions. Apparently there was an 15 attorney's ruling that said that once it's budgeted, you 16 can't not hire somebody, and I don't understand that. That 17 just doesn't make any sense to me. And in these tight times, 18 I find it discouraging to hear that kind of thinking in 19 government. I guess I would ask that that be clarified 20 somehow by you people, and -- and how that is going to 21 directly affect or might affect what we're talking about here 22 today. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: The only response I would give you 24 is that there was discussion about that in the hearing, and 25 yesterday when we had our budget workshop, and I'm sure there 9-15-10 4 1 will be further discussion about that when we talk about the 2 adoption of the budget itself, so I would encourage you to be 3 present at that time. There will be an agenda item on that. 4 MR. BRONSON: Okay, very good. I'd just like that 5 clarified, because from a business or common sense 6 standpoint, it doesn't make any. Thank you. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. Marie Davis? 8 MS. DAVIS: Gosh, I wasn't the first one here this 9 morning. How did I get to be this one? Marie Davis, 126 10 Aaron Drive, Kerrville. Good morning, Judge, Commissioners. 11 There are many people here that voted for each of you. Some 12 worked your campaigns. We did it because we believed in your 13 conservative principles, and we trusted your decisions and 14 your choices. All of you voted yourselves -- I shouldn't say 15 all. I think there was the majority of you voted yourselves 16 a pay increase and a tax increase last term. I believe I'm 17 correct in that. And seems like that there was some of the 18 reserve was spent. Am I correct in that? There are plenty 19 of homes in Kerr County on the market right now. If you 20 haven't driven around to look, you should do so. You can 21 start in Vicksburg Village. There are a lot of people out of 22 work in Kerr County, people looking for work, people being 23 laid off. People in this courtroom this morning are worried 24 about this country. This is a country we love. The buck 25 needs to stop here at the local level. 9-15-10 5 1 Are you out of touch with your constituents? Are 2 you out of touch with what Kerr County needs and what's going 3 on here on a local level? There are young families and old 4 people that have lost -- young families that have lost their 5 401(k)'s. They've -- they don't have insurance. They don't 6 have a pension. All of you have a good pension. These 7 families are struggling to meet their obligations at the end 8 of the month. Not only that, they're struggling to put food 9 on their tables. I hear it all the time. It's not just 10 health insurance, but it's the cost of groceries, medical 11 bills, gas, and on and on. Our leaders, you all, our elected 12 officials, should not have a catcher's mitt in both hands. 13 It's time to throw some back. Everyone is having to cut 14 back. Everyone's having to tighten their belts, rework their 15 budgets, look things over. You know, our country has lived 16 through some wonderful years. God's been good. But maybe 17 that has caused some complacency, some selfishness, big 18 budgets, overspending. Ask yourselves, is this the right 19 time? Is this the right thing to do? Are we representing 20 the people that put us here? Thank you for your time. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you ma'am. 22 (Applause.) 23 JUDGE TINLEY: David Hamilton. 24 MR. HAMILTON: I'm David Hamilton, 300 Big Buck 25 Circle, Mountain Home, Texas. I appreciate that, ma'am. And 9-15-10 6 1 I appreciate you gentlemen, too. And I -- what I do say, I 2 say with respect, as you're all my elders and leaders in my 3 community. Obviously, this is in response to a proposed tax 4 increase for an increased budget and supposed needs. I'm 5 looking as a citizen and a taxpayer and a businessman for a 6 reduced budget, reduced size, even of our local government. 7 I've been in business for a lot of years, was able to budget 8 my own business, grow my own business, pay my employees. 9 Never late on paying my employees. That's a very important 10 thing when you're in a perspective of a wage earner, which 11 all you gentlemen know. 12 Thankfully, 'cause I'm not real politically active, 13 I saw in the paper, and have for the last few months, about 14 what we're paying some of our public servants, some of our 15 school employees, and of course, county employees and city 16 employees. And I'm shocked. I'm not shocked because I don't 17 know what the -- the state of our nation is in, and the state 18 of local and state and federal government and the way that 19 there's such a top-heavy movement. Where we left the 20 mentality of public service where public service was intended 21 to be, to a degree, a place of suffering, a place where men 22 that -- and women invested of themselves back into their 23 country or their community or into their state, at a cost. A 24 great deal of them served at -- at a considerable financial 25 cost to themselves on behalf of their community or their 9-15-10 7 1 state or their nation. 2 We've become a society that now has been fed a 3 message that if you're in service, you're due as much or more 4 than those whom you're serving. That's been in the news. 5 It's documented. And I know, at least to a large degree -- 6 and in Washington, D.C., you have where you have public 7 servants there to serve and administer and distribute on 8 behalf of the people that are almost double the national 9 average for the -- for what they're actually doing. That's 10 shocking. That is -- to me, it's reprehensible. And this -- 11 I'm not accusing you gentlemen of this; I'm just trying to 12 state a case here of where, basically, a population out here 13 now is getting to the point to where we're up to here with 14 it. 15 I am a builder by trade, home builder, commercial 16 builder, small businessman. Up till -- hopefully it's still 17 the case, but small businessman that, along with millions of 18 others, are the engine of the economy of this nation. In the 19 building trades, and I'm sure you're all aware of this, we 20 have seen a huge recession, huge hit in the building 21 industry. All communities, all governments, all entities in 22 this nation are suffering as a result of the building trades 23 and all of the outflow of business and revenue transfer. And 24 I've been in there long enough to see a few of these cycles. 25 I've seen at least three of these cycles, booms/busts. Well, 9-15-10 8 1 the boom we're coming out of right now is where government 2 just skyrocketed and budgets went through the roof, because 3 the mentality was that this will go on forever; every year is 4 going to be a better year. Land is always going to increase 5 in value. It's all -- it's just going to get better. We're 6 going to have more and more budget to work with. Well, 7 that's not the case. It is a lie. It's deceptive. The 8 people that have been fed that lie are just beginning to 9 realize it is not the truth. 10 Everything cycles. There's a season to everything, 11 and we are in a season of decline at the moment, of leveling 12 out and correction. And it's going to take time, and it's 13 going to -- and it has the opportunity of being a brutal 14 adjustment. The bigger the bust -- or the bigger the boom, 15 you see, the bigger the bust that's going to happen. The 16 bigger the unrealistic growth in economies, the bigger the 17 correction. We're in the midst of a correction, and the 18 correction is not over. Now we're not looking at just a 19 recession, or possibly believing a lie that we're out of this 20 -- coming out of this recession. We're looking at a possible 21 double-dip or worse. This is not scare; it's just facts. If 22 one -- if there's two wage earners in a family and one of 23 them loses their income, you took a big hit. You took a huge 24 hit. Well, you lose both wage earners in a family and you're 25 facing near devastation. 9-15-10 9 1 I've seen things in the news recently, and one of 2 them, and in all due respect, is our Sheriff's Department. I 3 have a great regard for law enforcement and authorities. I 4 have two sons in the military. Both of them had duty in 5 Iraq, one of them duty -- double duty in Iraq and 6 Afghanistan. And I have a respect for men that'll serve 7 their country, and for the most part at low wages. These men 8 aren't making the kind of wages I saw in the newspaper, and 9 they both have families, and they're both jeopardizing their 10 life for their nation. I live out in Mountain Home. I've 11 watched our roads basically crumbling, and I'm talking Lower 12 Reservation Road. I'm talking Weatherby Road. I'm talking 13 Big Buck Circle where I live. These are chip-sealed 14 surfaces, and they are crumbling. This last winter, which 15 was a colder winter than usual, basically destroyed them. 16 I walk almost every day out there, and when the 17 weather's a little cooler, I walk the loop, which is Big Buck 18 Circle, Lower Reservation, Weatherby Road. They're 19 crumbling. All it would have taken is, about a year ago, 20 before they began to fail, is fresh chip seal, a little bit 21 of grading and building up the shoulders a little bit, a 22 fresh chip seal to preserve them probably for another 10 23 years down the road. Now they have to be rebuilt, almost. 24 They are crumbling, falling apart. And yet I have a spur 25 down there off of Lower Reservation -- and I don't know if 9-15-10 10 1 you folks are directly responsible for this. It's called 2 Kensington Ranch Road. Now, I assume -- you nodded; you're 3 aware of it. I'm talking about a -- a ranch road that 4 connects Lower Reservation with the freeway frontage road. 5 It's actually a fairly long road. It goes through a series 6 of ranches. It is primitive. Don't take your Cadillac down 7 that road, 'cause you're not going to make it once you get 8 past the part that was refined here last year. 9 County was out there for weeks rebuilding a tiny 10 little section; I can only estimate maybe a quarter, possibly 11 a third of Kensington Ranch Road. You're looking at -- and 12 what I -- driving by, because I had no reason to go in there, 13 because basically it's almost private property, and I thought 14 for a long time it was. It's a county road, services 15 ranches, and it's a link between Lower Reservation and the 16 frontage road by the freeway, I-10. This road basically is a 17 road to nowhere. Huge expense. I don't know how many 18 hundreds of thousands of dollars were spent in the bringing 19 up of the quality of this road, but it -- it services 20 ranchers and people that have a right to have their road 21 graded and maybe a little gravel spread now and then, but 22 this is not even up to county specs. 23 This is not a two-lane county road that, when you 24 look in the long, foreseeable future, that is being upgraded 25 to create a -- a link between the freeway and Lower 9-15-10 11 1 Reservation. This is a road going nowhere. It's -- it's 2 brought up to grade, and it is -- forgive me, it's either 3 paved or chip-sealed. It's a nice road, but it's not even a 4 two-lane road. It looks like a glorified driveway that, I 5 hesitate to say, hundreds of thousands of dollars of county 6 money was spent on for a glorified driveway that citizens 7 can't use to get from Point A to Point B. Shame on you. 8 Forgive me if you're not directly responsible, but shame on 9 the county, when the main feeder road that this comes off of 10 is crumbling, fairly heavily traveled, and is falling apart. 11 And I'm telling you, I'm one person from a community. I'm 12 surprised that we're not crammed here today that live out 13 there, and their biggest complaint is it's crumbling, it's 14 falling apart. 15 So, as a citizen, I'm asking you to cut the budget. 16 I'm asking to you cut some wages. Public service can stand a 17 little bit of tight -- belt-tightening like the public 18 citizens are enduring, and like the public citizens, at least 19 anybody old enough to know a little bit about tightening 20 belts and living with budgets, especially when they take hard 21 hits. Okay? Now, I had cancer. I went through a time where 22 I couldn't work. I know what taking a hit is about. When 23 you have no income, when you got a family, four kids and a 24 home and everything to support, it's a rough row to hoe, but 25 it's bearable. I am asking for budgets, salaries, new 9-15-10 12 1 purchases, to be seriously reexamined by our Commissioners. 2 Thank you for your time, sirs. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 4 (Applause.) 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Amy Eldred? 6 MS. ELDRED: Morning. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Morning. 8 MS. ELDRED: Thank you for giving us the 9 opportunity to speak with all of y'all. I did read the 10 article in the paper. My name is Amy Eldred. I live at 116 11 Briarwood Lane, Kerrville. I am the precinct chair for 12 Precinct 406, and that's one of the reasons I'm here. I have 13 a concern about our taxes. Now, I'm fortunate; I live in the 14 county, and I don't have city taxes that I have to pay. But 15 those folks that have to pay city taxes and county taxes, of 16 course, take an additional hit any time we have a tax 17 increase. And, of course, with the school districts as well. 18 So, you know, when I first read the article last week about 19 what the plan was and what you were looking at and so on, it 20 really infuriated me, because I -- you know, I can take this 21 down to a more personal level. 22 We all know what the national situation is. We all 23 know that we're in a recession. We all know that government 24 is overspending itself by millions and trillions of dollars. 25 Here locally, I think that we have had pretty good 9-15-10 13 1 representation, and I honor each of you for your service, and 2 appreciate it. I think we have good county employees, and I 3 know many of them. I've had the opportunity to interact with 4 a number of the county employees from the -- the Tax Office 5 and the -- the Voter Registration people, the Sheriff's 6 Office. I appreciate the work that they do. And, you know, 7 I would concur with the gentleman who spoke before. You are 8 servants to the people. I know that county employees are not 9 making a boat load of money, but I also know that people that 10 live in Kerr County, by and large, if you are employed and 11 not retired, living off of retirement income, if you're 12 employed in Kerr County, you're not making a boat load of 13 money. Nobody is, because that's sort of the nature of -- of 14 working in Kerr County. We live here because we love the 15 hill country, because we think this is a great place to live 16 and raise kids. 17 My husband works at Mooney, and by the grace of 18 God, we still have a paycheck coming. But we never know, and 19 we haven't known for years. Every year our insurance 20 premiums go up, and our obligations to the amount of 21 insurance premium and co-pay and deductible goes up. We pay 22 over $400 a month for family coverage. We have a $5,000 23 deductible per person. We have, then, another $6,000 out of 24 pocket before the insurance will pay at 100 percent. Once 25 you meet your $5,000 deductible, they pay at 70 percent. We 9-15-10 14 1 have co-pays that vary whether you go to a primary care 2 physician or to a specialist. Our -- our drug tier is quite 3 high. Fortunately for Walmart, you know, we can rely on some 4 of those $4 prescriptions. 5 But I'm taking this to a more personal level. We 6 pay a lot for our insurance. I don't know what Kerr County 7 employees pay for their insurance. I am aware that most 8 state -- or most government employees at any level tend to 9 have a little bit better opportunity with that kind of thing. 10 And, you know, this is not because I have anything against 11 the employees getting a raise, or that I think that anybody 12 ought to have to pay more for health insurance, but we got 13 Obama care. We tried like hell to get rid of Obama care, but 14 we got it. Now, with any luck, it'll go away, but in the 15 short run, we all know that insurance premiums are going up 16 and that whether you work in the private sector or the public 17 sector, the -- the brunt is going to hit the employee. 18 Now, I read in the paper this morning that if the 19 County Commissioners Court determined that they would place a 20 little more of the burden on county employees to pay for more 21 of their insurance, they could save in the neighborhood of 22 $450,000. Is that correct? Is what I read this morning 23 correct? Okay. That's what the paper said. So, my 24 understanding is that -- that there could be an additional 25 savings should the county employees be responsible for more 9-15-10 15 1 of their own insurance coverage. Again, this is not 2 whether -- about county employees or whether we like them as 3 people or not, but this is about personal responsibility. 4 There was a time that when you went to the doctor, you just 5 paid the doctor, and insurance didn't play into it. You 6 bought a large coverage for if you got cancer or -- or 7 something like that, but, you know, you paid your way. 8 We have become way too reliant on someone else 9 paying our way. And whether you work in the private sector 10 or in the public sector, personal responsibility is what our 11 founders looked at us to do. They still -- I mean, my 12 expectation as a citizen is that I should take personal 13 responsibility for what I owe. You might have noticed that I 14 have a cast on my foot, because I had some surgery on my 15 foot. I will be responsible for what I owe to the providers 16 for the surgery on my foot. You know, sadly, the company's 17 not going to pay that much on it, but it was something that I 18 had to have done, and so, you know, I'm going to bite the 19 bullet and take care of it. We understand that you guys have 20 obligations for the county, and we want you to meet those 21 obligations. We want you to do what is absolutely necessary 22 to maintain our services in the county, maintain our roads, 23 provide us with enough staff for the county to -- to run the 24 courts, to run the jail, to protect us through the Sheriff's 25 Office. We want you to do that. But we -- we want you to 9-15-10 16 1 look anywhere you can to make appropriate cuts if you can. 2 We know you're working hard on this, or at least I 3 do. You know, I can't speak for the rest of the folks here. 4 I know you're working hard on it. I know most of you, and I 5 know you're working hard on it and that you don't want to 6 raise taxes on us. And we're just asking you, dig deep. You 7 know, try to find anything you can that you think might be 8 just a little bit wasteful or a little bit unnecessary. 9 Let's tighten the belt. Try to find ways we can save money, 10 ways we can do something better, more efficient, less costly, 11 in order that we can preserve our way of life here, not raise 12 taxes on folks, and -- and allow us to continue to -- to 13 enjoy the services that the county does provide for us as a 14 matter of need. Thank you for your time. I appreciate your 15 work. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. 18 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Thank you, Amy. 19 (Applause.) 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Ed Shuler? 21 MR. SHULER: Thank you very much. I'll try to be 22 as brief as possible, and good evening, gentlemen. When I 23 heard about what was going on and everything, I thought, 24 well, gee, you know, they're going to be hearing all the 25 stuff that you're going to need to know, sort of like 9-15-10 17 1 preaching to the choir. You guys are well-informed. You're 2 very well educated, very skilled. You were put in here by 3 people who trusted you and so on. So, the only thing I can 4 say that hasn't been said by these great people out here -- 5 these people are very informed. I know a lot of these 6 people. They're very -- they're very good at what they do. 7 Oh, my address. Edward H. Shuler, 603 Mountain, 8 Kerrville, Texas. Been here over 35 years. I -- I 9 participate in a whole lot of things in this county. I right 10 now am very active in the G.O.P. I am active with the 11 women's G.O.P. group. I am one of the founding members of 12 the 9-12 Patriots here; we're a conservative 13 Constitutionalist group. And I'm very politically oriented. 14 The only thing I want to say here that may have not been 15 said, but probably been referred to, is I understand that the 16 cost of operating, raw materials, everything has gone up, and 17 it's not going to come down. Everything is going to get more 18 expensive. And I live on a fixed income, just like a whole 19 lot of other people here do, and that meets my life. We'll 20 slowly get less and less -- I haven't eaten beef in a long 21 time. I just don't buy beef. You know, $5 or $6 a pound is 22 ridiculous, you know, so I buy chicken. (Laughter.) 23 Okay. This is -- you know, this is what we do. We 24 try to determine what worked back -- you know, let's look 25 back through the '40's. What worked back then? Did we have 9-15-10 18 1 really fine electronic equipment? Did we have really neat 2 stuff with all these tools that we're using today? That eat 3 our substance? That cost a lot of money? Maybe we need to 4 look back on some of the tools we used to use, our minds and 5 our skills, and try to organize in a way that we do job 6 sharing and work -- and dispersion of work that we would 7 normally not have. Maybe our structure needs to be studied a 8 little. There are a lot of things you can do. I'm just 9 asking you to try to look at this from a more productive side 10 and try to tighten your belt. 11 We're not -- we're not against people being 12 compensated well. You know, I think that they -- they 13 deserve what they deserve as far as their being paid, 14 everybody. But the thing of it is, the conditions of today 15 are such -- I haven't got any raise, you know, even on this 16 Social Security thing. I'm not expecting it, either. In 17 fact, I'm wondering when they're going to turn me off. 18 That's what I'm looking at. Well, you guys are looking at a 19 similar thing. The amount of money in this county is 20 reducing. The amount of cost is increasing. It's terrible. 21 So, you're going to have to come up with some solutions that 22 might be a little bit more Spartan. It's not a very good 23 deal, but it's a challenge. So, I'm asking you to take that 24 challenge and please consider it so that these people here, 25 who are looking to you to not add to their expense any more 9-15-10 19 1 than they have to, try to do that. I really appreciate 2 everything y'all are doing too, and as far as people telling 3 you how to do roads and so on, well, that's not my job. But 4 my job is to tell you, hey, guys, get on this, study it, get 5 in there and try to -- try to see if you can whittle out a 6 little bit more. Thank you. 7 (Applause.) 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Is there any member 9 -- any other member of the public or the audience that wishes 10 to be heard with respect to the proposed Kerr County 2010 tax 11 rate? Anybody else? This is your opportunity. Come 12 forward; give us your name and address and tell us what's on 13 your mind. 14 MR. PIRKL: Greg Pirkl, 4077 Bandera Highway. Some 15 of you folks know me. I'm a business owner here in town. 16 Something that hasn't been addressed, I don't believe, is the 17 fact that while in the paper it said $64 for every household, 18 you're forgetting the businesses. When you hit us with the 19 same tax, we don't have $179,000 in appraised value. You 20 folks appraise most of the commercial property very high, 21 okay? We're going to take a tremendous hit on this, okay? 22 Not just a little bit. We're going to take a big hit. And 23 then people come to me and say, "How come your prices go up? 24 How come things are higher now?" Well, we have to pass this 25 along somehow. I don't like to do it. I haven't had a price 9-15-10 20 1 increase for a year and a half. Yet somehow you folks are 2 feeling that everything's going up in the county. 3 Everything's increasing in cost. My vendors haven't 4 increased their cost, so I'm kind of curious where this is 5 coming from. 6 The other thing is, is I don't have health 7 insurance. None of my employees have health insurance. I 8 simply cannot afford it. If I can't afford it, should I just 9 fire everybody? Or should I just increase all of my retail 10 prices to such a point that I chase everybody away, make them 11 go to San Antonio or Walmart? That's my option. I wish that 12 I could afford health insurance for myself and my employees. 13 They deserve it, just like all the county employees; they 14 deserve it too. But I can't do it. And when I see this, and 15 I see that you want to tax me and everybody else out here for 16 this, it disturbs me. It disturbs me that one group of 17 people are raised above the rest of us, and only because you 18 can. It's taxation because you can, okay? That really kind 19 of disturbs me. And I wish that I would be able to just 20 raise my prices by 50 percent so that I could have a glorious 21 reserve fund sitting in my bank account that I could utilize. 22 Last year was a very hard year for me. I've been 23 trying to trim my costs as much as I possibly can. So, if I 24 have to trim my costs, if I have to reduce things, if I have 25 to let people go, why is the county any different? I 9-15-10 21 1 understand that you've let some people go. I understand 2 that. But if it isn't enough, then I guess you have to look 3 someplace else. As a business owner, you would expect that 4 from me. If I come to the Court saying, "Sorry, I don't have 5 any money; just let that debt go," you'd be like, "No, you 6 need to pay that debt, Mr. Pirkl." Well, in the same 7 respect, you can't just tax us because you happen to have a 8 debt or that you expect another debt to come through. 9 That -- just live within your means. It's what you expect us 10 to do. We have to all live within our means. I'd like to 11 pay my employees $20 an hour. I'd love to, but I can't. I 12 cannot do it. And, like I say, not only do you tax the 13 businesses higher, every bit of inventory that I have is 14 taxed besides. 15 So, this $64 increase to everybody is at least five 16 or ten times that amount for my businesses. Now, I'm just 17 one business. There are hundreds out here, and this is going 18 to hit every one. And you wonder where the businesses are 19 going, how come they aren't expanding. Well, you're cutting 20 into their profits. That's the only way that we live. 21 That's the only -- that's my only income, is my business. 22 I've lost tons of money. That's the only way we live. If I 23 had to have an increase of -- I think it was $700,000 for 24 health insurance -- was it an increase? I could be wrong, if 25 it was an increase or if it's the total. I don't think 9-15-10 22 1 there's a single business in this town that could afford 2 that. What would you expect them to do? Close their doors? 3 Or would they find other means to keep their business going? 4 As a businessman, I'd find other means to keep my 5 business going. I would find a way -- say, "I'm sorry, I 6 can't pay your health insurance this year." Maybe you only 7 put a moratorium on it for a year, okay? Like I say, I don't 8 have health insurance. I'm glad that they do, and I 9 appreciate that you folks give it to them. I mean, I'd love 10 to have it, and I'd love to have it for my employees, but 11 somewhere down the line we have to look at this a little bit 12 in the business sense, because that's really what you are. 13 You are businessmen. This is a business, and it still needs 14 to be structured as such. Money coming in, money going out. 15 If it doesn't equal, you're in trouble. Do I come and ask 16 these folks -- say, "I'm going to have to charge everybody 17 that walks into my business an extra 2 percent because I need 18 a reserve fund." People would laugh me out of the place; 19 say, "I'm not paying that." But yet you folks expect us to 20 pay it. That disturbs me. 21 Something in the paper just recently, I guess in 22 the New York Times, September 8th, Republicans and Democrats 23 both have suggested this is not the time to raise taxes on 24 anybody, given the fiscal state of the economy. That's what 25 they're talking about up there. Here on the local level, 9-15-10 23 1 we're hurting even worse. You know, I hate to give up my 2 business, but somewhere -- I have yet to see taxes go down. 3 Is this tax -- if you get this, if you raise us 3.6 percent 4 or whatever you're going to do, and then you find out you had 5 a surplus, do we get it back? Are we going to ever see our 6 taxes go down? Or is it just going to constantly do this? 7 Yes, inflation does that, but yet according to government 8 statistics, zero percent inflation last year. Zero percent. 9 That's cost-of-living, zero percent. Yet you say that we 10 need to give a 2 and a half percent cost-of-living increase. 11 I'd love to give my employees an increase every 12 time, but I've had to tell them we have -- excuse me -- we 13 have to cut our budget too. We have to look at our expenses. 14 I have to make my bills. And you need to make yours; I 15 understand that. But if we have to cut someplace, all of us 16 can live with that. If we have to cut somewhere else, and 17 it's -- maybe it's in the roads. Maybe its some other place. 18 Okay, we understand that, and we can live with that. That's 19 not that big a deal. We don't have to have everything 20 perfect in the county. Be nice, but we don't have to have 21 perfection. And, again, like I say, in this time, I don't 22 see the county requiring a reserve fund for delinquent 23 taxpayers. What you're doing is charging all the good people 24 who pay their taxes on time this extra fee so that you can 25 have a reserve fund for the folks that aren't paying their 9-15-10 24 1 taxes. I don't see how that's fair, either. 2 Yes, if a person comes in and doesn't have a good 3 check, I can get some money back from them, but that doesn't 4 mean I should charge everybody else extra because that one 5 person had a bad check. I think that's what you stated in 6 the paper, that that was the reason for having a reserve 7 fund, because of nonpayment of some of the taxes, and the tax 8 money hadn't come in in time. Live within your means, 9 please. That's all we're asking. Live within your means. 10 You expect us to. If we don't, you throw us in jail; you 11 take away stuff. We have no recourse, of course, except to 12 maybe elect somebody else, but they'll be in the same 13 position. All we're asking is please use common sense. 14 Thank you very much. 15 (Applause.) 16 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 18 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there anyone else that -- yes, 19 ma'am. If you'll come forward and give us your name and 20 address. 21 MS. HARSTON: Suzanne Harston. I also am a 22 precinct chair of Precinct 101. I am also a very small 23 business person in this town, and I was very happy to hear 24 what this gentleman said. I rent, and I -- I rent a space. 25 I own a house, rent a space for my business. And I know that 9-15-10 25 1 the building is going to be -- I know the building is 2 assessed very high, and the tax increase will be really big, 3 and it's going to be passed on to me. And I'm trying to stay 4 open. I barely make any money off of my business. I'm 5 hoping that when -- when things turn around, it will be more 6 lucrative, but I am hanging in. And I love my business; I 7 love what I'm doing. But if they have to raise my rent 8 significantly, I won't have any option but probably to close, 9 because I don't think I can raise prices enough to offset 10 that. Is there any other business people in here? Do we 11 have that same situation going on? And even if there aren't, 12 we all buy things from people who have businesses in town, 13 and we're all going to be faced with that increase, besides a 14 potential increase on our own properties if they fall into 15 that category. 16 So, anyway, that's all I wanted to say. I think 17 this is going to have far, far reaching effects on a lot of 18 people, probably more people than there are in the county 19 that'll be affected. Although the county employees will also 20 be affected, because they have to go out and buy things from 21 people whose prices are probably going to have to go up, or 22 businesses will have to close. And I do have friends that 23 work in the county, and I love them dearly. And it breaks my 24 heart to be standing up here and saying this, but I think as 25 a person representing 2,900 people in Precinct 101, I think 9-15-10 26 1 the bulk of them feel the same way that I do. Thank you for 2 your time. Thank you for the work that you do. 3 (Applause.) 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Anyone else that 5 wishes to be heard with respect to the proposed 2010 Kerr 6 County tax rate? Anyone else? This is your opportunity. 7 Come forward. Tell us what's on your mind. 8 MR. HAMILTON: Would I be able to speak again just 9 for a moment? 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, sir. I would ask you not to be 11 repetitive, however. 12 MR. HAMILTON: Oh, no. David Hamilton again, 300 13 Big Buck Circle. I'd just like to touch on the one insurance 14 issue. I raised five children; they're all grown now, each 15 -- most of all of them with children themselves. I went 16 through crushing injuries, went through cancer, all without 17 insurance. Very tough times, difficult times, but survived 18 and raised a healthy family. It is a powder keg. And I 19 understand the position you men are in, and I feel for you, 20 and I'd do everything I could do to support you. You're in a 21 difficult situation -- position. But I would ask you, hold 22 to your integrity. Do everything you can do to ease up on 23 your constituents. So, anyway, thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Anyone else that wishes 25 to be heard? Anyone else? I would remind you that we have 9-15-10 27 1 another public hearing with regard to this same subject, the 2 2010 proposed Kerr County tax rate, scheduled for September 3 the 20th at 10 a.m. So if you wish to come back then, you're 4 perfectly free to do so. We welcome you. If you have 5 friends or neighbors that say, "Oh, gosh, I missed my chance; 6 I had something I wanted to say," be sure and tell them, if 7 you would, please. There will be notices posted in the local 8 media. It's on our web site. But be sure and remind your 9 neighbors and friends and family members that if they wish to 10 be heard on this same subject, they're free to come back here 11 on the 20th of this month at 10 a.m. Mr. Shuler, you had a 12 question? 13 MR. SHULER: Yes. May I ask a question? Is there 14 anybody here who is in favor and supports the tax increase? 15 I just wanted that to be mentioned and added in, that there's 16 nobody here that supports it. Thank you, sir. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: That doesn't surprise me, sir. 18 Okay. 19 MS. ELDRED: I'm not going to stand, but I did have 20 a couple questions I wanted to ask you. This morning's paper 21 said in your workshop yesterday that you had found some areas 22 that you are going to trim. Is that accurate? Yes, okay. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: There are some areas under 24 suggestion. 25 MS. ELDRED: Okay. So that is not set in stone 9-15-10 28 1 yet, but those are areas that you are discussing. Okay. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: No, there will be further discussion 3 about the budget -- we have another workshop scheduled for 4 next Tuesday, which will be the 19th, at 10 a.m. And then we 5 will formally adopt the budget and the tax rate later this 6 month. There will be notices posted of each of those events. 7 I am hoping to be able to do all of that at our regular 8 meeting on the 27th. 9 MS. ELDRED: Okay. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: That's my hope. Don't know whether 11 we'll get there or not. 12 MS. ELDRED: One other question. Is there 13 somewhere in county records, or a link to a web site where 14 the public -- people such as ourselves can see last year's 15 budget, what you spent, where you are, you know, so that we 16 can -- I mean, maybe we can help you figure out where else 17 you can make some cuts. Because if we can see the numbers, 18 you know, that is helpful. Is there any -- is that a matter 19 of public record? 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Our -- our current budget that we're 21 operating on this year is online. 22 MS. ELDRED: Okay. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: A copy is available at the County 24 Clerk's office. Unfortunately, you'll have to pay for that. 25 I don't recall what we set for the cost last year. Normally 9-15-10 29 1 their copy cost is a dollar a page. Obviously, you don't 2 want to pay that, 'cause it's about this thick. We set the 3 copy cost, if you want a hard copy of it for this year of the 4 proposed budget, at $50. That's available. But all of this 5 information is online. Every single expenditure that we make 6 that we can publicly disclose -- there are some certain items 7 that we can't because of confidential, personal information, 8 which we protect for our employees, obviously. But we have a 9 gold star transparency award from the Comptroller. 10 Everything's online. 11 MS. ELDRED: Where can we -- what -- can you give 12 us the information? Where exactly can we find that? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Somebody help me out on the link to 14 our web site. 15 MS. HARGIS: Well, the web site, go to Departments; 16 go to Auditor, and under Auditor you'll find the fiscal 17 audits, as well as the budgets, and there's three or four 18 years of everything there. 19 MS. ELDRED: So the Kerr County web site -- 20 MS. HARGIS: It' every month. Every month. 21 MS. ELDRED: Auditor, okay. 22 MS. HARGIS: Every month. There's a link that 23 shows you every disbursement that we make in this county. 24 MS. ELDRED: Okay, very good. That would be 25 helpful so that -- 9-15-10 30 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Everything is -- 2 MS. ELDRED: -- anybody that's interested can 3 actually look and see where you're spending the money. Maybe 4 we can help you find some cuts. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Everything is totally transparent. 6 MS. ELDRED: Thank you, Judge. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes, ma'am? 8 MS. KELLER: I'd like to speak. My name is Ana 9 Keller. I live at 1468 Harper Road. I just want to speak on 10 the tax rate. I want to address the -- 11 JUDGE TINLEY: You'd need to come forward, give us 12 your name and address, and -- 13 MS. KELLER: My name is Ana Keller. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 15 MS. KELLER: I live at 1468 Harper Road, and I am 16 also a county employee. And I would like to address the 17 gentleman about the tax rate. It's not entirely true -- the 18 revenue's going to have to come from somewhere. Our 19 insurance is possibly increasing. Our pay is not where it 20 should be. And I'm speaking out for those employees and 21 those of us that are county employees. We did a tax freeze 22 for those that are 65 and older. Those of us that are not 23 that age, that work daily, that give forth all that effort, 24 need revenue from someplace. And I just want to put that out 25 there too, and say that not everyone agrees -- of course, I 9-15-10 31 1 don't want to have a tax increase, but if it means my job and 2 paying my taxes, then yes, I do. And I want to just say 3 that. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. 5 MS. KELLER: Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: You had another question? 7 MR. PIRKL: I have one other point, if I may, to 8 add. Greg Pirkl again. Just so everyone understands that, 9 like I said, there's almost zero on inflation, and the fact 10 that where is the actual cost-of-living coming from? I hate 11 to say it; it's coming from increases in taxes. That's where 12 our inflationary issues are. 90 percent of inflation is due 13 to taxation, not the other way around. Not from us 14 businesses. It's due to taxation. That's where all this 15 money -- you have to pay the 2 and a half percent in order to 16 pay the taxes that you're increasing us. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, sir. Anyone else? 18 Mr. Davis, did you have some comments? 19 MR. DAVIS: Yeah. I'm Frank Davis at 126 Aaron 20 Street. And, you know, I think it's -- some of the states 21 have already made arrangements -- I think it's Rhode 22 Island -- to face the budgets, and I think that -- I think, 23 like one of the members brought out already, that we are 24 going to have a chance to be -- have a double-dip. And I 25 think that we begin to find ways to cut taxes. And the good 9-15-10 32 1 thing about employees in the city and the county is they have 2 some benefits that -- that come with the job. And so what -- 3 what we're speaking about is the average person out here 4 that's on a fixed income, or an average person working, like 5 the gentleman that just spoke. We have to do without those 6 things. And so I think we don't have to -- like one person 7 said, we don't have to have things state of the art, but we 8 are going to all have to do our part, each of you and each of 9 us. So, I think that's why I'd like to just say that -- that 10 we're going to have to -- to sacrifice, and it'll be worth 11 it. That's all I wanted to say. 12 (Applause.) 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 14 MR. WRIGHT: I did have a question. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: You need to come forward and give us 16 your name and address. We really shouldn't be responding to 17 questions, other than to give you the public information 18 about where you can go to get this information. 19 MR. WRIGHT: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: All right? 21 MR. WRIGHT: So -- 22 JUDGE TINLEY: I apologize if it appeared like we 23 were throwing this thing out in the open. We were trying to 24 give you the opportunity to have the benefit of the 25 information about future meetings and where you can get the 9-15-10 33 1 information to study for yourself. But insofar as getting 2 into a discourse or a discussion, that's not the purpose of 3 this meeting. And -- but you're welcome to come to the 4 budget workshop. You're welcome to come to future meetings 5 and participate in those discussions at that time, if you 6 wish, and we would welcome you to do so. 7 MR. WRIGHT: Okay. My name is Brian Wright, Center 8 Point, Texas. Basically, in that case, I'd like to request a 9 larger venue. I think that you might have more people in the 10 next meeting. I think it's fairly unfair -- of course, right 11 now there's only one person standing, but there have been 12 more than one person standing since I've been here. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: I think what we will probably do in 14 that regard is at least have -- if not schedule it for one of 15 the district courtrooms, possibly have one of the district 16 courtrooms at least on standby, so if it appears that we're 17 filling up and we need excess, we can just recess and go on 18 upstairs. And maybe the weather will be nice and pleasant by 19 then; we can go outside and get underneath the magnolia tree. 20 But your point's well-made, and we will certainly try and 21 have those options available to us, sir. 22 MR. WRIGHT: And then also, in the budget 23 workshops, is that an opportunity to discuss, as well as ask 24 questions about the budget? 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. Yes. 9-15-10 34 1 MR. WRIGHT: And I do want to say that the budget 2 is online, and I want to personally give you a copy of it. 3 So, thank you. 4 MS. ELDRED: And did you say the budget workshop 5 was next Tuesday? 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Next Tuesday at 10 o'clock in the 7 morning. 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can we do that on Monday? 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Pardon? 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm supposed to be out of 11 town on Tuesday. We got time to post it. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Hold on just a minute. I'm getting 13 some -- I'm getting some correction here. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We have some kind of meeting 15 on Monday. We have a public hearing or two? 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Public hearing on Monday, 17 10 o'clock. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Can we have a budget workshop 19 after that? 20 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Monday? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: The budget workshop is on Tuesday. 22 The public hearing is on Monday at 10 o'clock. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I understand that, but could 24 we move the budget workshop till Monday after our public 25 hearing? 9-15-10 35 1 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm going to have a serious enough 2 problem; I'm due to convene -- begin a juvenile jury trial at 3 9 o'clock on Monday. That's going to be a nice trick. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm scheduled to be out of 5 town for an education deal from Tuesday -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we've already published -- 7 we've already published notice that the second public hearing 8 is going to be at -- at 10 o'clock on the 20th. That's in 9 the publication that the Tax Assessor -- 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: The one I'm suggesting hasn't 11 been posted yet. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The workshop is what he's 13 asking. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I'm just talking about a 15 workshop. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The Tuesday meeting. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we could reschedule that, but 18 I wouldn't want to reschedule it for Monday. 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Too late after that, 'cause 20 I'll be gone the rest of the week. I thought we were pretty 21 well wrapped up yesterday. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, we may have; I'm not sure. 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Except -- 24 MS. UECKER: How about Monday afternoon? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We set this thing on Tuesday 9-15-10 36 1 just in case we needed one more. It's a tentative deal. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: It was tentative, but it 3 never was -- 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's correct; we don't 5 know that we're going to need it. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, are you available Monday 7 afternoon? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, when you start a jury trial, 9 you never know how long those are going to take, 10 Commissioner. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: We'll take care of you. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Fortunately -- yeah. Well, the -- 13 the public hearing is -- it is what it is. The workshop, of 14 course, I definitely want to participate in. And -- 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, that's my part. I want 16 to participate, too. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. The only way we might be able 18 to do that is -- you know, I start that one at 9:00, and 19 fortunately, the jury's already been chosen, and we'll start 20 the opening statements and the testimony shortly thereafter. 21 And then I've got juvenile cases to hear beginning at 2:20 22 that afternoon. I don't see -- 23 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What about -- 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Later in the afternoon, possibly. 25 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, late in the afternoon 9-15-10 37 1 any time Monday fits with me. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Are you paying attention? 3 MR. WRIGHT: I'm trying to keep up with you guys. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 5 MR. WRIGHT: I still -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: It's bouncing around pretty fast and 7 furious here. 8 MR. WRIGHT: I think it will be important to have a 9 workshop before your next public hearing, but I don't know if 10 you guys can do that or not. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: What about 3 o'clock? 4 12 o'clock? I don't care. 13 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which day? 14 JUDGE TINLEY: 4 o'clock might work for me. 15 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Which day? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: On Monday. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The hearing will be on the 18 proposed tax rate, correct? Not the final tax rate. There 19 will definitely be a workshop between the -- before we set 20 the tax rate. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That will be the workshop. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: That will be it, yeah. 24 MR. WRIGHT: But you're going to have that after 25 your next public hearing. 9-15-10 38 1 JUDGE TINLEY: The public hearing on the 20th will 2 be essentially another one of these same events that we just 3 did. 4 MR. WRIGHT: Okay. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay? 6 MR. WRIGHT: Understood. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: The workshop that we're trying to 8 get scheduled, it looks like now we're going to try and plug 9 in for 4 o'clock on Monday afternoon. 10 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Fine with me. I appreciate 11 that. 'Cause, you know, I want you to be able to attend, but 12 I also want to be able to. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If we get into that time, I 14 start getting a conflict around 5:00. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I start drinking 16 pretty early, so... (Laughter.) 17 MS. PIEPER: Judge, are you anticipating any 18 detention hearings for Monday afternoon? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: I've already got some scheduled. 20 They start -- they're scheduled to start at 2:20. And I'm 21 probably still going to be in the middle of that jury trial, 22 so -- 23 MS. PIEPER: That's what I was thinking. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- I might have to roll those 25 detention hearings. But hopefully I'm going to be through by 9-15-10 39 1 4:00. You know, it's -- 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're not -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Goes with the territory, doesn't it? 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We won't schedule taking any 5 kind of a vote or anything, so you -- 6 JUDGE TINLEY: No, be a workshop. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're just going to miss -- 8 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I know, but I want to -- I 9 don't think I should. Maybe we could do it early Tuesday 10 morning. Would that work? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That works for me. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: What about 10 o'clock? 13 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: That's not early. (Laughter.) 14 JUDGE TINLEY: I have mental health hearings at 15 9:00. Now, I could reschedule those. I could -- 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Start it at 8 o'clock, 8:30. 17 JUDGE TINLEY: The mental health? Or start the 18 workshop? 19 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, the workshop. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That -- but you're going to run 22 into the same time constraints because of the wall of the 23 10 o'clock hearing. I mean, why don't we start it at 3:30 in 24 the afternoon? Hopefully you'll be done by then. Then, if 25 we have to recess it, then we can recess it till the next 9-15-10 40 1 day. You'll just have to miss the next day. 2 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If it's early enough, I can 3 still make it and still make my other obligations. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Wouldn't it be easier just to start 5 early Tuesday morning? 6 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 8:30 works for me. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Tuesday morning? 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought you were leaving 10 Tuesday. 11 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, if we can do it early 12 enough, I've still got time. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Why don't we start at 8:00 Tuesday 14 morning? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 8 o'clock. 16 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: 8 o'clock Tuesday morning. 17 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Tuesday, the 21st. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Thank you very much for 19 accommodating. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: That's not a problem. 21 COMMISSIONER WILLIAMS: Okay. So, Monday just 22 turned into Tuesday. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, sure did. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You're talking about having 25 power, buddy. We've got the power. 9-15-10 41 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Did you get that, Mr. Wright? 2 MR. WRIGHT: Sir? 3 JUDGE TINLEY: 8 o'clock Tuesday morning. 4 MR. WRIGHT: I'll be here. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Is a workshop. 6 MR. WRIGHT: Looking forward to it. Thank you. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, sir. And I'll 8 work on getting my mental health hearings scheduled for later 9 that day sometime. Okay. 10 MR. BRONSON: Will the proposed changes that you're 11 talking about in the new budget be reflected in the online 12 copy in any reasonable amount of time? 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Not on the posted one. 14 MS. HARGIS: No. No, we won't post the budget 15 again until the finished product now. 16 MR. BRONSON: I see. Do you summarize the changes 17 anywhere? Are they online? 18 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 19 MR. BRONSON: Okay. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Anything else? We'll be 21 adjourned. Thank you. Appreciate you being here and 22 participating. 23 (Commissioners Court was adjourned at 11 a.m.) 24 - - - - - - - - - - 25 9-15-10 42 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 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 23rd day of September, 8 2010. 9 10 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 9-15-10