1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Friday, September 16, 2011 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 GUY R. OVERBY, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 BRUCE OEHLER, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X September 16, 2011 2 PAGE 3 1.1 Public hearing on proposed Kerr County 2011 Tax Rate 4 4 1.2 Public hearing on proposed operating Kerr 5 County FY 2011-12 Budget 20 6 1.3 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on various matters in proposed FY 2011-2012 Kerr 7 County Budget 21 8 1.4 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action with regard to operations of Kerrville/Kerr County 9 Municipal Airport and potential litigation regarding same (Executive Session) -- 10 --- Adjourned 42 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Friday, September 16, 2011, at 9:00 a.m., a special 2 meeting 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: 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, Friday, September 16th, 2011, at 9 a.m. It is that 11 time now. We're going to have a couple of public hearings 12 this morning, and those of you that wish to speak with regard 13 to either the public hearing on the proposed tax rate or the 14 proposed budget, I would ask that you fill out a 15 participation form. There should be some located at the rear 16 of the room. That way, when I go through, I'm going to first 17 give the opportunity to those who have filled out a form to 18 -- to speak. Then once we conclude that, if there are any 19 others that maybe haven't done that, then they will have an 20 opportunity. But those that have -- are going to speak, or 21 think they might speak, go ahead and fill out a participation 22 form so that you can have the priority in terms of being able 23 to speak on those items. So, if you'll -- if you haven't 24 done so, if you'd be kind enough to do that. Then we'll go 25 ahead and get started. Are there any folks here that need an 9-16-11 4 1 opportunity to fill that out? I guess not. Okay, good. At 2 this time, I will recess the Commissioners Court meeting, and 3 I will convene a public hearing on the proposed Kerr County 4 2011 tax rate. 5 (The regular Commissioners Court meeting was closed at 9:06 a.m., and a public hearing was held in open 6 court, as follows:) 7 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Is there any member of the public 9 that wishes to be heard with respect to the Kerr County 2011 10 tax rate? 11 MS. RACKLEY: I do. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Let's go ahead and just start here 13 on the front row. If you'll give us your name and address? 14 MS. RACKLEY: I'm Shirley Rackley. My address is 15 Post Office Box 291909, Kerrville, Texas. And I just have a 16 couple of questions I want to ask. Won't the increase of 17 taxes increase the rollback tax rate? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: I probably should have noted at the 19 beginning that a public hearing allows you folks to tell us 20 what's on your mind. It does not permit us to get into a 21 discussion with you. 22 MS. RACKLEY: Doesn't? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: No. 24 MS. RACKLEY: Well, I'll have to say it a different 25 way, then. It will increase the rollback rate. And you've 9-16-11 5 1 already increased the rollback rate in 2009, and you didn't 2 have it before the taxpayers, and you didn't have it on the 3 -- senior moment -- you didn't have it on the ballot. So, 4 what are you going to -- why are you now wanting to have 5 another tax increase? You've increased it last year, too. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you ma'am. David Robertson? 7 MR. ROBERTSON: Gentlemen, I live at 511 Winged 8 Foot Lane in Kerrville, and I'm retired. I worked 34 years 9 for State of California. When I retired from there, I was a 10 manager of a section that had 500 employees. I know a little 11 bit about government. In regards to the increase in taxes, 12 both President Obama and former President Kennedy, as well as 13 a number of economists, have said that raising taxes in a 14 recession is very unwise and can have an adverse effect on 15 improving the economy. One branch of our economy that 16 certainly would be adversely affected if we raise taxes on 17 the county property would be the real estate business. 18 They're having a hard time selling houses now. If you have 19 to tell people that the county taxes on their property would 20 even be higher, it would discourage, probably, some buyers. 21 A great many of the citizens of Kerrville are on an income 22 from Social Security, and the cost-of-living increase was so 23 low -- in fact, it was negligible -- that none of us on 24 Social Security got a pay raise this past year. 25 The inflation rate is still low, and so it seems to 9-16-11 6 1 me that giving a pay raise to government employees of 6 and a 2 half percent is kind of high in a year when inflation is so 3 low. However, as a former government employee, I also 4 experienced the times when the economy was bad that we got no 5 pay raises. In 34 years, I only got one pay raise that was 6 equivalent to 6 and a half percent or better. It seems to me 7 to be a high pay raise. There was some things, though, that 8 we were required to do and did do, and I'm sure you gentlemen 9 and your department heads have already gone through this. We 10 found ways to reduce the cost of operation by such things as 11 freezing hiring, not filling vacant positions, freezing 12 promotions, postponing expenditures that were nice and 13 desirable, but not absolutely necessary, reexamining all the 14 activities that we did in each of our departments to see were 15 there some that could have been done cheaper? Were there 16 some that we didn't need to do at all? And quite often, we 17 found ways then to live within the means without having to 18 raise taxes. 19 But, on the other hand, I hate to see government 20 employees have to continue to bear the burden of tough times. 21 So, therefore, I would propose and request that the County do 22 what I suggest, to look at ways to save, reduce expenditures, 23 perhaps freeze positions, and yet at the same time be able to 24 give some pay raise to its employees. I would suggest 25 perhaps a pay raise in accordance with the cost-of-living, 9-16-11 7 1 around 2 or 2 and a half percent. That would tell our 2 employees that we do recognize that they're valuable, and we 3 reward their good service. And, by the way, I've never had 4 anything but good service from county employees in this 5 county. I've lived here for five years. But at the same 6 time also, asking them to -- along with the rest of us that 7 are having to live through tough times, to continue to bear 8 their fair share of that as well by not getting the 6 and a 9 half percent pay raise, but taking something less. Thank you 10 for your time, gentlemen. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thank you. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Jonathan Lusher? 14 MR. LUSHER: Good morning. My name is Jonathan 15 Lusher; I live at 1042 Edinburgh in Kerrville. And I really 16 couldn't say much more than this gentleman said eloquently, 17 other than to simply emphasize that raising taxes in a time 18 that we have, whether technically it's a recession or not, is 19 frankly suicidal. And I'm surprised that an organization in 20 this part of the country, with the outlook that we have here, 21 would even consider such a thing. As to the pay raise for 22 county employees, I've been both a government and a private 23 sector employee and manager and business owner, and I have 24 never received a 6 and a half percent increase. And I can 25 certainly say that when I did increase -- get a pay increase, 9-16-11 8 1 it was never during a time when budgets were particularly 2 strict. If they're not particularly strict at this time, 3 they should be. I -- I don't mean to say this in any 4 insulting way, but I would guarantee to you that gentlemen 5 such as this and others in the county would easily find 6 acceptable economies in any budget, including the County's, 7 without seriously handicapping the employees, who frankly are 8 probably glad to have a job when 15 percent of the American 9 workforce is either unemployed or underemployed, myself 10 included. That's all I have to say. Thank you. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Kent Feldman? 14 MR. FELDMAN: Good morning. Did I understand you 15 right that you cannot answer questions to the general public? 16 JUDGE TINLEY: We can hear what you have to say, 17 sir. Would you give us your address, please? 18 MR. FELDMAN: Pardon me? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Could you give us your address, 20 please? 21 MR. FELDMAN: It's on that -- 809 Lee Street. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, sir. 23 MR. FELDMAN: Thank you. I was here last year. 24 There was 100 percent opposition to your tax increase last 25 year from the general public. I don't know who you 9-16-11 9 1 represent. I don't know what your jobs are. I'm pretty sure 2 that there are no county employees that are living below the 3 poverty line in this town or in this county. I'm also sure 4 that there are property owners that live below the poverty 5 line in this county. I'm a taxpayer. I'm not overly high on 6 the news media we have in this town, but if it's anywhere 7 near accurate what they're reporting, from what some of the 8 people that are employed in this building are saying, it 9 embarrasses me and it hurts me to pay taxes to those type of 10 people. I don't know what type of multiplier you're using. 11 This man, he's been an economic man. I don't think you can 12 take $5 million, if it turns over seven times, out of this 13 economy in this county. I would ask you to think about, if 14 you get any applications for -- the Treasurer, I believe, is 15 retiring? If you get any applications for that, you must be 16 paying enough wages. If you don't get any applications at 17 all, you better raise the wages. I'm just -- I think it's a 18 crime what you people are doing to this county and this city, 19 and I don't know how you can expect any cooperation when you 20 go to improve your Ag Barn and everything else out there, 21 because, man, you just sit up there and ram things down 22 people's throats. And I appreciate your time. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: John Moorman? 9-16-11 10 1 MR. MOORMAN: My name's John Moorman. I live at 2 216 Lakeway Drive, Kerrville. That's Precinct 1. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes, sir. You're a smart 4 man. 5 MR. MOORMAN: Blame it on my parents; they 6 purchased the property. I'm here to support a tax increase. 7 And the reason is, is I believe in good government, and I 8 believe you folks are doing good government. I also believe 9 that our county employees, who have taken a pay deduction the 10 past couple of years, are doing a good job. I'm distressed 11 to hear so much misinformation about a 6 percent, a 10 12 percent, a 20 percent raise. I would ask you guys to see if 13 you can do a better job of getting the facts out of exactly 14 what this is and how it's going to affect the average 15 homeowner. There's just too much fear-mongering and -- and 16 inaccurate information out there that makes everybody's job 17 harder. I don't like to pay taxes, but I'm willing to pay my 18 fair share. And it hurts when it comes time to write that 19 check, but I'm willing to do it. And I'm not a rich man, 20 never will be, but I will pay for good services. 21 That leads me to my final point, is the reason I'm 22 having to pay so much, and how -- the reason some of these 23 people who are opposed to a tax increase are having to pay so 24 much is the very shortsighted freeze for seniors on property 25 taxes. You have to income-test it. There are too many very 9-16-11 11 1 wealthy people living in big houses that have their property 2 taxes froze, and they don't need it. Get rid of that. Make 3 everybody pay their fair share, and the rest of us senior 4 citizens could dig deep and write a reasonable check. 5 There's too many freeloaders in this system. Thank you. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Is there any other 7 member of the public that wishes to be heard with respect to 8 the proposed Kerr County 2011 tax rate? Anyone else? Please 9 come forward and give us your name and address; tell us 10 what's on your mind, sir. 11 MR. PIPER: Hello, Commissioners. My name is Mike 12 Piper; I live out on Stoneleigh Road. It's Private Road 127, 13 Private Road 1604. My concern is -- good morning, gentlemen. 14 I'm a business owner here in Kerrville. I haven't been able 15 to hand out raises for a couple of years now. The economy is 16 flat, as everybody knows. I'm in the process of really going 17 through in my mind -- I've taken a decrease in pay twice this 18 last year just to hold my business doors open. I mean, taxes 19 across the board, we're paying -- we're paying our fair 20 share. We're paying our fair share. My business is down. 21 I'm in the process of going through in my head; I'm trying to 22 save jobs. I'm trying to -- although I haven't been able to 23 hand out raises, I've been able to avert the fact that I 24 haven't had to lay anybody off, and I haven't had to cut 25 their hours any yet. That's my next step, guys. I mean, I'm 9-16-11 12 1 down to the bone. 2 And, you know, you guys know me; you know I work 3 hard. I work 12 hours a day, try to do all the right things. 4 And, I mean, we're getting it from -- from the federal level 5 to the local level about raising taxes, raising taxes, 6 raising taxes. All I ask for you guys is to really look at 7 your budgets. Man, see where you can cut. I know your 8 employees need -- I've got family that work for the county, 9 some for the city, and they're hurting too, and I realize 10 that. Well, we're in this all together. And, you know I'm 11 not up here to point fingers. I'm not up here to push any 12 blame off on anybody. But, really, look at your budgets, 13 because the private sector is cutting. We're tightening our 14 belt. We're strangling ourselves. And I don't speak just 15 for myself. I'm in touch with a lot of business owners, and 16 nobody's happy with the economy right now. We can't -- you 17 know, we can't do anything on a federal level, we can't do 18 anything on a state level, but we can do something on a 19 county level. 20 And really consider what y'all do to us, because, 21 man, I tell you, I mean, it's this tax, this tax, this tax. 22 I got a list of 25 taxes that I pay. Some of them are called 23 registration fees. Some of them are called -- you know, 24 they're -- they're diverted off into other subjects, but it 25 all comes down to a tax. So, I mean, two cents, it doesn't 9-16-11 13 1 sound like much, and if it goes through, I'll pay it. You 2 know, I do -- I want to be a good citizen. I want our county 3 employees to be happy. I want y'all to have quality help. I 4 want y'all to just do the right thing, guys. I mean, really. 5 Buster, I heard your prayer out here one day, brother, and I 6 stand behind on you that. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 8 MR. PIPER: And, man, I stand behind all of you 9 guys. Just really, really crunch the numbers, because it's 10 not easy. It's not easy out here. I just came from the 11 kitchen; I'm sweaty, you know. I mean, really, I don't make 12 your meetings 'cause I'm working all the time. But I had to 13 today. I really feel like, especially from the business end, 14 our voices have to be heard. We can't come down here every 15 time y'all have a meeting because we're busy, guys. We're 16 trying to -- we're trying to pay the taxes. So, thank you 17 very much. I appreciate y'all listening. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you, Mike. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Mike. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Any other -- if 21 you'll come forward, give us your name and address? 22 MS. ELDRED: Amy Eldred, 116 Briarwood Lane, 23 Kerrville. I don't know that I can add a lot more to what 24 has been said here this morning. I love the county 25 employees. I work with them, and I too have never received 9-16-11 14 1 bad service from them. But 6.5 percent seems to be a high 2 increase. And I realize as a percentage of overall budgetary 3 items or even income, 6.5 percent may not be a whole lot at 4 the end of the year, but there are people here that do 5 already feel like they're paying enough taxes. And I -- I 6 would agree with the gentleman who mentioned the tax freeze 7 on seniors. I live in Greenwood Forest, and when I moved 8 there, it was pretty much all old folks. And, you know, I 9 voted against that, not because I don't like old folks -- I'm 10 going to be one one of these days -- but because the county 11 of Kerr does not have that middle of -- middle or young 12 taxpayer. We are in a position where most of our population, 13 or a large percentage of it, is older folks. So, people like 14 me, I'm bearing the burden for Ingram Elementary School and 15 high school and so on, plus the Kerr County taxes, as a -- as 16 a 50-year-old person. And -- and that, you know, year after 17 year, as a little gets tacked on here and a little gets 18 tacked on there, and the state adds a little fee here and a 19 little there, you know, before you know it, your tax bill's 20 pretty high. 21 Now, my husband is one of the last nine at Mooney. 22 I don't remember the last time we saw a pay increase. I've 23 worked at the Family Sports Center now for six years; I 24 haven't had a pay increase. And a lot of that has to do with 25 the fact that the economy has been sour. You all know the 9-16-11 15 1 state of Mooney. You know, we're grateful to have a job. 2 We're grateful to have a paycheck. But if we got a 2 percent 3 pay increase, I'd be grateful. And I would love to -- to 4 just ask you all -- I realize -- I've been following all of 5 this stuff with the County/City and what we're paying for and 6 what they're paying for. Bruce will tell you, I've been 7 paying a lot of attention to this. And, you know, I do not 8 begrudge anybody a pay raise. I'd love a pay raise. And I 9 understand that part of the rationale is that because of last 10 year's budget, the health care costs for county employees has 11 gone up. Every year in February, when we re-up our health 12 care insurance, we call that our pay cut, because every year 13 we pay more. Last year, our pay -- our health insurance went 14 up 20 percent. So, every year we don't get a pay raise, but 15 we pay more for everything else. I hate going to the store 16 these days because everything costs more, so I do understand 17 the need. 18 But I would ask you two things. One, that maybe 19 you would look at a smaller pay increase until the economy 20 improves, until the county of Kerr can figure out a way to 21 generate more jobs for younger people. And I would urge you 22 to look at every opportunity and seek out opportunities 23 outside of the city, because they tend to be uncooperative, 24 to find ways to bring jobs to Kerr County for people who are 25 my son's age, 21, who want to stay here and work. But he's 9-16-11 16 1 at Sonic three days a week, and that's all he's been able to 2 find. There are ways that we can generate more tax revenue 3 by bringing what we need into Kerr County, and you guys are 4 capable of doing that. You're all smart men. And there are 5 people in this county that would be willing to stand with you 6 and work with you. But in the short term, looking at a pay 7 increase either based on merit, or a lower across-the-board 8 pay increase. 9 I commend you all. I understand that last year 10 each of you did not take a pay increase; as a matter of fact, 11 you took a pay cut so that you could keep your budget in 12 line. And we appreciate the work you do. I know that it's a 13 hard job and that you have a lot of responsibilities, and 14 that this year has been particularly difficult with all of 15 the City/County conflict. But we, as citizens, I think, 16 understand your position. We understand the position of the 17 county workers, but we also are looking at our bottom lines 18 and realizing that with each tiny tax increase, that that's 19 one more dollar or two more dollars or 20 more dollars out of 20 our pockets, that some of us really are -- you know, we're 21 at -- we're squeezing, squeezing, squeezing, and every 22 business is doing it too. So, I appreciate your time this 23 morning. I appreciate your efforts, and ask that you would 24 consider, wholeheartedly, what each person has said here this 25 morning, and -- and let us work with you. You work with us. 9-16-11 17 1 Thank you. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Is there any -- 3 any other member of the public that wishes to be heard with 4 respect to the proposed Kerr County 2011 tax rate? Yes, 5 ma'am. If you'll come forward and give us your name and 6 address, tell us what's on your mind. 7 MS. CHAMBERS: I don't like speaking in public. My 8 name is Valerie Chambers. I live at 213 Erin Drive, and I've 9 lived here for 10 years. One of the big issues right now is 10 the drought, and I'm not sure that any of us know how long 11 that's going to last. As property owners, it -- it's 12 extremely difficult to find money currently to maintain my 13 home in a way that it needs to be done. If the drought 14 conditions continue in the way that they appear to be 15 trending right now, I have cracks appearing in my walls, 16 because my foundation is moving because of the dry soil 17 conditions. I know that there will be trees that need to be 18 taken care of if I can't take care of those trees in a way 19 that they need to be tended to. I'm talking about basic 20 maintenance costs here. I have a daughter who will be 21 leaving for college soon. Guy, you have a son in college; 22 you have a daughter who's just graduated from college not 23 long ago. You know how much it costs to put kids through 24 school. And in order for them to become successful citizens, 25 they need that education, and it gets more and more difficult 9-16-11 18 1 to set those funds aside and find ways to pay for them. 2 My daughter was up until 2 o'clock this morning 3 working on schoolwork, because that's her job right now. And 4 so I just want to implore you to find ways to keep from 5 putting a greater burden on us. Our taxes are not frozen, 6 and I'm a long way from my taxes being frozen. I disagree 7 with finding ways to take that money from the wealthy. I 8 think that, in hindsight, there probably should have been 9 more consideration of freezing taxes for 65 and over, and 10 perhaps better preparations put in place, anticipating what 11 that was going to do to tax revenues and running somewhat the 12 scenarios. What if the economy tanked? What if sales tax 13 revenues dropped? What if house values dropped, thereby 14 decreasing these revenues for us? And how are we going to 15 manage that? Before it was put to a vote. That decision was 16 made, I think somewhat hastily. But it's been made, and we 17 need to now use that as a tool to bring people to this 18 community who can take advantage of that, and thereby have 19 extra spending money to put back into the city and the county 20 through sales revenue or whatever. 21 It does not mean that that house will not -- that 22 future owner of that house who's under 65 will not have to 23 pay the appropriate tax rate, if you will. It means that 24 that particular homeowner, until they sell that house, their 25 taxes are frozen at whatever the value of that home was at 9-16-11 19 1 the time they filed for that 65 and over -- older exemption. 2 I want to make sure everybody understands that. And when 3 that property changes hands, if that new buyer is under 65, 4 they pay the tax rate based on the current value of that 5 property. So, if you've got a $300,000 home, and a 6 65-year-old owns it, they're going to pay the taxes based on 7 that 300,000 value. Ten years from now, if they sell that 8 property, and the value is now at 400,000, the new owner pays 9 the taxes based on that $400,000 value. So, those revenues 10 have been deferred; they haven't been lost. We will come 11 back from this economic downturn. It will get better. But 12 in the meantime, we all have to tighten those belts a little 13 more. 14 And our community may be -- majority demographics 15 may be retirees, but there are a lot of young families, and 16 we are just as strapped. We may have better earning 17 potential than a 65-year-old retiree who's set at their 18 retirement income, but it is a growing segment of this 19 community, and like it or not, we have -- y'all have to have 20 responsibility to take care of everybody. And because our 21 future for putting our -- our earnings back into this city 22 and this county are greater than a retiree, personally, I see 23 that we need to be taken care of. And I ask you, please, to 24 consider that before you vote for any tax increase. I 25 haven't had a pay raise in three years. My husband hasn't 9-16-11 20 1 had one in 10 years. Thank you. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Is there any 3 other member of the public that wishes to be heard with 4 respect to the proposed Kerr County 2011 tax rate? Anyone 5 else? Seeing no one else coming forward, I will close the 6 public hearing with respect to the proposed Kerr County 2011 7 tax rate. 8 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:35 a.m., and a second public hearing was held in open court, 9 as follows:) 10 P U B L I C H E A R I N G 11 JUDGE TINLEY: And I will open a public hearing on 12 the proposed operating Kerr County Fiscal Year 2011-12 13 budget. Is there any member of the public or audience that 14 wishes to be heard with respect to the proposed operating 15 Kerr County Fiscal Year 2011-12 budget? Now, two of the 16 previous speakers had also mentioned budget in their 17 participation forms. I first want to give them the 18 opportunity to speak with regard to that, if they haven't 19 already told us what's on their minds. Jonathan Lusher? Is 20 he still here? 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think he just went out the 22 door. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. David Robertson? 24 MR. ROBERTSON: I said all I need to, Your Honor. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Thank you, sir. Is there any 9-16-11 21 1 other member of the public or the audience that wishes to be 2 heard with respect to the proposed operating Kerr County 3 Fiscal Year 2011-12 budget? Anyone else? Seeing no one else 4 coming forward or seeking to be recognized, I will close the 5 public hearing on the proposed operating Kerr County Fiscal 6 Year 2011-12 budget. 7 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:36 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 8 reopened.) 9 - - - - - - - - - - 10 JUDGE TINLEY: And we've got a couple more items on 11 the agenda. Any of you folks that appeared here for the 12 purpose of those two public hearings, we'll give you an 13 opportunity now to go ahead and leave, if that's your desire. 14 If you wish to stay, we're very happy to have you. If I've 15 not already done so, I will reconvene the Commissioners Court 16 meeting, and let's go to Item 3 on the agenda; to consider, 17 discuss, and take appropriate action on various matters in 18 the proposed Fiscal Year 2011-12 Kerr County budget. Is 19 there any member of the Court that wants to throw out on the 20 table or raise for discussion any of the matters in the 21 proposed Kerr County Fiscal Year 2011-12 budget? I put this 22 on as just a continuing item, so that everybody has the 23 opportunity to talk about those. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I do not at this 25 time. 9-16-11 22 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm -- we're going to have 3 other opportunities -- another opportunity, I think, when it 4 comes to voting time. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Then I do have some things 7 to say. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, I have a couple of -- 10 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: An item. One, I just wanted to 12 make a general comment. Whenever people ask us to -- suggest 13 we tighten our belts as much as possible, a lot of 14 information we probably don't do a real good job of letting 15 the public know as to what we're doing, but last year there 16 was no pay increase for employees, and we really reduced 17 their health care coverage; basically, raised the deductible 18 substantially. Another thing we did, we put on a hiring 19 freeze last year, and we've reduced our total -- our county 20 employment by around 10 percent in the last year. So I 21 think, you know, those that were asking that we do that, we 22 have done that. That being said, on the -- the pay increase, 23 Commissioner Oehler came up with some numbers last time, 24 working with the Auditor, of -- that a tax -- we would not 25 need a tax increase if we went with a pay increase that was 9-16-11 23 1 lower. 2 And I'd really like to -- you know, I know we've 3 asked the Auditor to keep on looking at numbers, but I'd like 4 to see what a -- the budget impact is if we went with a 3 5 percent pay increase. 'Cause I think we really do need to 6 start catching up on the county employees, but I also really 7 think -- I'm a businessman, as most of y'all know. And, you 8 know, I agree with what Mike said; that, you know, it is -- 9 really hits businesses and the young the worst, and they're 10 the ones that really need the most help. So, I really -- as 11 I said at our first workshop, I think, just about, I'm not in 12 favor of a tax increase if there's any way to get around it. 13 So, I'd like to see that number and see what it does. It is 14 critical that we add to the reserves, and that if we're okay 15 there financially, I'd like to look at the HRA being put in. 16 And I'm not sure if it's in or out of our numbers right now, 17 but put our HRA in at a $300 level. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I think it's out. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's out too, but 20 just -- that's kind of a -- just a little bit -- you know, 21 see how that works. I'm not sure what the net effect is, but 22 we're -- you know, I know every time we meet, we ask the 23 Auditor to rerun the numbers, but that's kind of -- it seems 24 to me that that will work without a pay increase or tax 25 increase. 9-16-11 24 1 MS. MABRY: Right now, we have a whole dollar 2 figure in for the insurance that's what it was last year, 3 which will, based on Gary Looney's numbers, give us one or -- 4 either an HRA card or no HRA card. So, the numbers are in 5 the budget, but depending on what's decided, you know, 6 whether we'll have wiggle room or not. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- see, I mean, I don't 8 know why we don't take out -- we know the -- or it seems to 9 me we have a number from TAC that's a high number. I don't 10 know why we don't put that number in and take out the 11 estimate. But that will put that number in the budget as -- 12 that is the number. We're not going to get worse than that. 13 And then we could have a -- an item for the HRA. And I just 14 think we need -- we're at the point we need to get that old 15 insurance number out and put the new insurance number in, 16 'cause we have a pretty good idea, as I understand, that's 17 kind of a not-to-exceed number right now, and that will give 18 us the real -- really, the -- the detail that we need to 19 determine on the tax increase. That's it. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me follow up a bit on your 21 statement, Commissioner, about inability to communicate. 22 It's my budget that I filed which requests that 6 and a half 23 percent. And I'm getting the impression that folks think 24 that that is what I feel is a COLA from last year -- last 25 year to this year. That's not correct at all. I'm going 9-16-11 25 1 back to 2008, which was the last cost-of-living increase 2 that -- that the county employees received. U.S. Department 3 of Labor, Consumer Price Index computes from the index at 4 that time through -- I think the most recent numbers 5 available are July. August will be out probably in the next 6 week, but through July, the C.P.I. had increased by 8.73 7 percent. Those are -- that's public information numbers. 8 I'm not just looking at the last year. I'm going back to the 9 last time that -- that our employees received a 10 cost-of-living increase. 11 Now, the other thing I want to be sure that the 12 public understands is we've heard about the hit that we took 13 on their health benefits plan this year from the previous 14 year. The net effect of that was, on average, they took a 9 15 percent pay cut. Their cost to take advantage of their 16 health plan, or to participate in their health plan, 17 increased from $400 to $3,000. That's $2,600. You take a 18 $26,000-a-year employee, that's 10 percent. Take one that's 19 making a little bit more, it's a smaller percentage. Little 20 bit more, it's still again a smaller percentage. But the net 21 financial drain on average to the county employees was 22 approximately 9 percent of their annual pay. My 6 and a half 23 percent, I think, when you consider those factors, is fairly 24 pale in comparison to what's been portrayed as maybe one 25 year's COLA, without consideration of the significant loss 9-16-11 26 1 that they took as a result of the changes in their health 2 benefits plan. 3 That's my budget. I'm the one that plugged it in. 4 I make no apologies for it. I think they're worth even more. 5 Commissioner Letz just mentioned catching up. Catching up. 6 We all recognize they are behind. Unfortunately, the history 7 of this Court indicates that instead of a very small increase 8 from year to year, there's a long spell that goes by that, 9 for probably political reasons, the public is not asked to 10 pay more, so when they are asked to pay more, suddenly they 11 see a larger number. That's unfortunate. It certainly would 12 be more palatable and would provide better continuity, better 13 cash flow, all those things that are necessary, if it were 14 done little by little each year. I agree with some of the 15 speakers that one of the things that has really created a 16 problem is the over-65 tax freeze. Now, I can certainly 17 identify with that, 'cause I are one. But I still think it 18 was the wrong thing for our Legislature to propose because of 19 the services involved. 20 I can understand when state law allowed seniors to 21 have additional exemption of their property value for the 22 school taxes. Very few 65 and over folks have kiddoes in 23 school. You can't say the same for folks that have need for 24 fire, law enforcement, EMS, all these other various services 25 that are utilized by the public. Rooftops cost money. The 9-16-11 27 1 answer, of course, is to -- as I heard one individual say 2 today, we really need to beef up the contribution to our tax 3 base by the business, commercial, and industrial sector. 4 Those folks pay more than their fair share, not less than 5 their fair share. Even the non-tax frozen homeowners don't 6 pay their fair share, because studies have shown over the 7 years that on -- on residential tax collection, for every 8 dollar collected, depending on which study you look at, the 9 equivalent of anywhere between $1.10 and $1.60 in services is 10 delivered. 11 Well, what does that tell you? That tells you 12 residential growth is not necessarily what you want. What 13 you want is commercial, industrial, business growth. That's 14 particularly difficult in this community. We've been 15 portrayed as a retirement community for many, many, many 16 years, going all the way back to the '60's. And what we have 17 done, we have increased our residential component of our tax 18 base to about 75 percent or greater of our total tax base. 19 The economic gurus will tell you that an ordinary, normal mix 20 is 60, 65 percent to 35, 40 percent, weighted to the 21 industrial/business/commercial side. So, you can see we're 22 way, way out of whack. That's why the homeowner is getting 23 squeezed so badly in Kerr County. Now, I don't know that 24 this Court caused it. I don't know that this Court can solve 25 it, but we can all be part of that problem, insofar as 9-16-11 28 1 bringing about a solution. 2 I would urge folks who believe that we need to 3 focus on retirement to quit doing that. Number one, we 4 cannot keep retirees from coming here at the point of a gun. 5 They're going to keep coming, because they want to come here. 6 The difficult part is stacking on the tax base on the other 7 end of it. It's extremely difficult. It is highly 8 competitive. And those people that say, well, we don't want 9 all this business and commercial activity here, we don't want 10 the traffic, we don't want the -- the hubbub, we don't want 11 the water using, we don't want the smokestacks -- believe me, 12 we're not soliciting smokestacks -- but we don't want what 13 comes with commercial activity. You do want it, because it's 14 jobs. It's sustainment. If you're not growing, you're in 15 the process of dying, so we've got to keep chasing it. 16 We've got some negatives. We've got infrastructure 17 problems. We need infrastructure improvements and 18 extensions, and -- and new infrastructure very, very badly. 19 That costs a lot of money and it takes a lot of time. 20 Housing costs are out of whack. Wage scale is below state 21 level; housing costs are above state level. You wonder why 22 we don't have an abundance of workers here for new employers? 23 That's why. They can't afford to live here. It's 24 unfortunate, but that's just the way it is. The overall 25 master plan should be to increase business, commercial, 9-16-11 29 1 industrial. That's where the relief to the homeowners is 2 going to come from. That's the only place it can come from. 3 This Court does not have the ability to establish new sources 4 of revenue, independent of what the Legislature allows us to 5 do. We -- our sources of revenue are ad valorem taxation, 6 which is what we're talking about now. It is fines, fees, 7 and other costs for services that are established by state 8 law. 9 We don't operate utilities. We don't have the 10 ability to adjust once they're set. We cannot set your tax 11 rate, and in the middle of the year decide, well, we didn't 12 do it enough, so we need to -- we need to do it some more, 13 and at midyear do that. We can't do it. Prohibited by law. 14 I heard mentioned a while ago that we exceeded rollback last 15 year. That is not correct. We certainly weren't close last 16 year, and we're not even close this year with what I've 17 proposed. Those are some things for you to think about. 18 Maybe we do a bad job of communicating. Maybe we spend more 19 time working the problems rather than spinning things for 20 you. That's our fault. We'll take responsibility for that. 21 But I would hope that any of you that have questions or 22 people that put questions to you, if you don't know the 23 answer, tell them to come to the right place. We're happy to 24 talk with them. That's why we're here. That's the only way 25 we can know what's on your mind, is if we hear from you and 9-16-11 30 1 if you ask us about things. 2 I've said over and over and over through the years 3 when I go out and talk to groups, I am not a mind-reader; I 4 cannot tell what's on your mind. I used to say that my -- my 5 wife could verify that. I'm not really good at just taking 6 hints. Most men aren't. (Laughter.) As I'm sure most of 7 the wives can attest. Tell us what's on your mind. 8 Communicate with us. We want you to. You're not bothering 9 us. Don't apologize for taking our time, because we all work 10 for you. Everybody in county government works for you. We 11 are public servants, and we want to do the best job that we 12 can for every single one of you, demonstrate our worth, and 13 to be responsive to what you want to know or what it is you 14 need. But you need the information to know what we do, how 15 we do it, and what it costs to do it, and I think that's 16 where we've failed. We'll try and do better. We appreciate 17 it. Thank you. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You didn't go into the 19 transparency issue. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Good point. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Absolutely, good point. 22 JUDGE TINLEY: You want to know what we spend? Go 23 online. Every single dime that we spend is there. It's all 24 there. Yes, ma'am? 25 MS. ELDRED: Judge, with regard to industry in Kerr 9-16-11 31 1 County, is the -- is the Commissioners Court actively 2 pursuing anything? Are you guys -- have you guys got a plan? 3 I mean, that's -- that's something my husband and I talk 4 about a lot. Because, you know, I understand -- for a 5 variety of reasons, I understand that -- that the City has a 6 tendency to -- my observation is that the city government -- 7 now, I don't live in Kerrville; I live out in the county. 8 But they tend to be difficult sometimes in terms of getting 9 things moving. You know, I work at the sports center, and 10 we've been trying to break ground on something for over a 11 year. Maybe in January we'll get ground broken on it. 12 Maybe. But, anyway, so we talk a lot about -- you know, Kerr 13 County has a lot of problems. There's a lot of land in Kerr 14 County that's just county land. Does the Commissioners Court 15 -- are you looking at any -- any means or ways of trying to 16 bring industry in here that would provide a greater revenue 17 stream through taxes and job opportunities to retain young 18 people in the county? 19 JUDGE TINLEY: Excellent question. Had you been 20 here a bit earlier, you would have seen a joint meeting of 21 this Court with the Kerr Economic Development Corporation, 22 which is the economic development -- 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Arm. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: -- component, arm, organization that 25 is in charge of the economic development function. And we 9-16-11 32 1 were having that meeting with those folks to hopefully 2 understand the need for communication, and that we feel like 3 that we are and should be an integral part of the economic 4 development function in this entire county. Commissioner 5 Overby, as you well know, is -- maybe you don't. He -- he 6 probably holds the certifications for economic development -- 7 I think he lacks one that's available in the world. Probably 8 has the -- the credentials that 98 percent of economic 9 development professionals in this country have. He's been 10 involved in that function for a number of years prior to 11 coming on the Court. I have been a proponent of economic 12 development before walking in the door here. Always have 13 been. That's probably, as much as anything, what caused me 14 to decide to want to be in this office. And we are almost to 15 a critical point with -- when you consider the percentage of 16 residential portion of our tax base, we're literally on a 17 self-destruct course, as it were, if we don't get this thing 18 turned around. 19 MS. ELDRED: Well, so the economic development 20 group, by whose authority do they function? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Actually, they -- they function -- 22 it's a participation by virtually all the stakeholders. That 23 board is composed of someone from this Court, someone from -- 24 that's designated by the City Council, someone designated by 25 Kerrville Independent School District, Kerrville Public 9-16-11 33 1 Utility Board representative, Convention and Visitors Bureau, 2 Chamber of Commerce. 3 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Private. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 4B. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: I'm missing one, because we have two 6 business reps. 7 MS. CARLSON: E.I.C. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Economic Improvement Corporation, 9 which administers the 4B sales tax, which is designated 10 primarily for economic development. That body is primarily 11 funded -- the majority of those funds coming from E.I.C., the 12 Economic Improvement Corporation, the 4B funding. It is also 13 funded from the City, the County, and KPUB. We each put in 14 equal amounts, or have to this point. And all of these 15 stakeholders are involved in this process by virtue of their 16 representatives. 17 MS. ELDRED: So, have they got a plan? 18 JUDGE TINLEY: We have a director that's 19 actually -- 20 MS. ELDRED: Other than a convention center? 21 JUDGE TINLEY: Huh? 22 MS. ELDRED: Other than a convention center? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yes. They're -- they're working on 24 that. And the problem with economic development, you don't 25 say, "We need economic development," and suddenly you have 9-16-11 34 1 it. 2 MS. ELDRED: No, I -- 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Those things take a -- depending 4 upon the project, they take a long time to -- to deliver, to 5 develop and come to fruition. Now, we've got infrastructure 6 issues that are serious considerations there, as I'm sure you 7 know. But I can assure you, there are some active efforts 8 that are going on on a daily basis for economic development. 9 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Now there are. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Ms. Carlson -- Traci Carlson is the 11 -- are you called the president or the executive director or 12 head honcho? 13 MS. CARLSON: As long as it's nice, you can call me 14 whatever. 15 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Whatever, then. 16 MS. CARLSON: I'm the president/C.E.O. of the 17 Chamber. And, actually, I have something on this subject. 18 If you're interested in the 4B tax, like it sounds like you 19 are, we actually have a lunch over this on the 20th, and it 20 is public, so you may come learn about 4B taxes, learn about 21 economic development, all that good stuff. If you visit our 22 website, it's on there, but it's at Inn of the Hills. And if 23 you just call the Chamber, just make a reservation, you can 24 come, anybody in here. 25 MS. ELDRED: On the Chamber website? 9-16-11 35 1 MS. CARLSON: Yes. It's kerrvilletx.com, or just 2 call us. It's public. Just make sure you call us and tell 3 us you're coming so we can have lunch for you. That's really 4 all I want to say. And I do -- I'll concur with the Judge. 5 Economic development is something that happens at a very slow 6 pace, unfortunately, but it is super competitive. And 7 another thing about it is, you probably won't hear a whole 8 lot about it, because you can't. Because some of the 9 deals -- companies require that you not give the information 10 readily. He is working on it. And they were -- and Ray 11 works very hard. Ray offices in our office, so I know he 12 works very hard at what he does. And I think, you know, 13 everybody involved, with all of the representation that's on 14 that board, I think there's only good things that can happen; 15 I really do. And so I think there does need to be -- Judge, 16 you're right on the mark. There does need to be more 17 business here, and that will take some of that burden off of 18 our residents. It really will. And that's the key. So, any 19 time that you can support business and any time you can 20 support economic development, I would encourage you to do 21 that. And if you want to know those ways, I'll be happy to 22 visit with you. 23 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Amy, I want to -- first of 24 all, appreciate your comments this morning. What I would -- 25 just relating to what the Judge has said and everybody has 9-16-11 36 1 just kind of talked up here, you know, as far as economic 2 development is concerned, major issues, again, that we face 3 in the county. And, again, when I say the county, that 4 includes the city of Kerrville, Ingram. All of us are in the 5 same boat; we're all together. But the lack of 6 infrastructure is the number-one impediment that we're all 7 suffering from, because of waterways -- water situations. 8 The community here and the State of Texas -- I've been saying 9 this; the Judge knows this more than ever. We have not 10 invested over the last three decades in the wastewater lines 11 or the -- or the lift stations, and so we deal with it on a 12 continual basis, and that is -- that's strangling us. It's 13 not going to get healed overnight. 14 We have a lack of warehouse spaces that are here in 15 our county. We have some that relocated over in Kendall 16 County, over in Commissioner Letz's area, right before his 17 area over there that are warehouse spaces that are used in 18 Kendall County. But one of those businesses I'm thinking of, 19 I've got 12 county people that are working at that company 20 who are welders. They're coming from Precinct 4, driving 21 over there and working over there in welding businesses. 22 We're trying to help them expand into Kerr County right now 23 so we can hire more people who are welders, and different 24 folks in our community to work. So, there is a -- there is 25 a major effort, and I think what the Judge has said today, in 9-16-11 37 1 trying to do what we're trying to do, we realize there are 2 major issues in trying to get people to work. But I think 3 everybody needs to understand -- and when you start talking 4 about infrastructure and the investment in it, people don't 5 get excited, 'cause you don't see -- you don't see it. It's 6 in the ground. And that's part of the investment as we start 7 going forward. Some -- sometime in our lives, we're going to 8 have to start investing into it so that your children and our 9 grandchildren are going to have that opportunity to have a -- 10 a viable community. So, I could go on, but that's all I'm 11 going to say. 12 MS. ELDRED: Thank you. Well, I appreciate it. 13 Because -- I don't mean to be confrontational at all, but 14 this is an area that really does concern me, because, quite 15 frankly, I hope I never have to leave Kerr County. I love it 16 here. 17 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: That's right. 18 MS. ELDRED: But -- and I am very interested in 19 being able to support the efforts of the County/City 20 relationships and in trying to make Kerr County a thriving 21 area, because you said it, Judge. If we're not growing, 22 we're dying. And, you know, we -- we laughed when we first 23 moved here. My husband used to say, "Kerrville, where people 24 come to die." (Laughter.) You know, and that -- that was 25 the -- you know, sort of the perception when we moved here in 9-16-11 38 1 our -- in our 40's. And so, you know, it is -- it is 2 important that we -- we continue these efforts. And I'm glad 3 to hear that there are things going on that -- you know, I 4 wish that I had known this. I mean, this is -- this is new 5 information to me, and I'll be interested in talking with 6 you. But -- so I appreciate your enlightening me on this, 7 and the folks in this room that maybe didn't -- didn't know 8 too, because it's important to those of us with kids, 9 grandkids, or people that are moving in with young families, 10 you know, that would like to have the opportunity to stay 11 here and work. 12 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: One thing -- 13 JUDGE TINLEY: It's not important; it's essential. 14 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Well, we did -- you know, we 15 had that meeting earlier this morning. We learned things 16 that we didn't know were going on through a little report 17 that we had not been given previously, and I -- it's the lack 18 of communication. And I think after this morning's meeting, 19 we're going to get more information, as there are -- there 20 are some things that look promising. Because if it is 21 outside the city, it's going to involve us helping those 22 people who are trying to come in here with things they're 23 going to need that are not available, such as wastewater and 24 water, things like that. It will have to be done somewhat 25 through us. But I was real glad to see this morning that 9-16-11 39 1 there are some promises on the horizon that could make a 2 difference. 3 MS. ELDRED: Good. 4 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: With new businesses coming 5 in. And I was quite surprised to see it. But, anyway, so 6 there is something happening. It's just -- a lot of it 7 doesn't get reported, and a lot of it can't be reported until 8 such time when it becomes -- it needs to become public. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me follow up on that just a 10 minute. We're not pitching our tent on new businesses coming 11 in. That should not be our focus. The majority of economic 12 development that's going to occur in this -- in this county 13 is probably going to be 75 to 80 percent from existing 14 businesses that are expanding, that are growing. And if, in 15 the next five years, each of the existing small businesses 16 that are operating here add one employee -- you think, well, 17 that's not much. Believe me, when -- when you put the factor 18 to it and spread that across a number of businesses, it's 19 significant. My point of mentioning this is that we really 20 need to take care of, first, those that brung us. The folks 21 that are here now in businesses that are serving us, and that 22 we need to support to give them the opportunity to grow and 23 expand, that's what we call the low-hanging fruit. They're 24 already here. They're invested. They're committed. 25 Everybody knows it. Let's help them. 9-16-11 40 1 The outside things that you hear about, that 2 such-and-such a county or city landed a new project that's 3 going to employ 1,500 people or -- you know, these -- 4 sometimes these numbers just get astounding. Those are kind 5 of like the lottery. Not quite that long of odds, but, you 6 know, you've got serious competitiveness that's going on 7 there and a lot of money, a lot of resources being expended 8 there. And, yeah, you'll get some of those. If your 9 community is growing, those people are going to be looking at 10 you anyway, particularly retail folks. So, make your 11 community grow first by expanding your existing businesses. 12 Help those people. They will cause growth in your community, 13 and then the outside folks will see that growth; they'll 14 recognize it and want to take advantage of that opportunity. 15 They will come in themselves. Yeah, they're probably going 16 to want some incentives, because that's the name of the game. 17 It's very, very competitive. Tax abatements, 380 agreements, 18 all -- there's all sorts of different tools, but it's very, 19 very competitive. But support your local folks first to grow 20 and expand. They will bring the growth from outside, I 21 think. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You mean like Buzzie's? 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. Buzzie's would be one, yeah. 24 Are they open? 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I agree. 9-16-11 41 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 2 MS. ELDRED: Are you buying lunch, Buster? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm buying mine, yes, ma'am. 4 (Laughter.) 5 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: If you ever think he's going 6 to pay for lunch, you're mistaken. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Only if he has to, and he can't find 8 a pigeon that's buying his. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What are you doing? 10 MS. ELDRED: I'm going to the Republican Women's 11 meeting after this. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I hadn't thought of that. 13 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the Court have 14 anything with regard to that particular agenda item? Okay. 15 We will go out of open or public session at 10:10 for the 16 purpose of going into executive session on one more item that 17 we have on the agenda. We appreciate you being here. Thank 18 you for your participation. 19 (The open session was closed at 10:10 a.m., and an executive session was held, the transcript of which 20 is contained in a separate document.) 21 - - - - - - - - - - 22 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, we are back in open or public 23 session. It's 10:48. Does any member of the Court have 24 anything to offer with regard to matters considered in 25 executive session? Hearing none, any member of the Court 9-16-11 42 1 have anything to offer -- anything else on this particular 2 agenda? We are adjourned. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Thank you. 4 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 10:48 a.m.) 5 - - - - - - - - - - 6 7 8 STATE OF TEXAS | 9 COUNTY OF KERR | 10 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 11 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 12 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 13 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 14 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 21st day of September, 15 2011. 16 17 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 18 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 19 Certified Shorthand Reporter 20 21 22 23 24 25 9-16-11