1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Special Session 10 Wednesday, September 21, 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 21, 2011 2 PAGE 3 1.1 Public hearing on proposed Kerr County 2011 Tax Rate 3 4 1.2 Consider/discuss, take appropriate action on 5 various matters in proposed FY 2011-2012 Kerr County Budget 19 6 --- Adjourned 30 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Wednesday, September 21, 2011, at 9:00 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 which has been posted and scheduled for 10 this date and time, Wednesday, September 21, 2011, at 9 a.m. 11 It is that time now. At this time, I will recess the 12 Commissioners Court meeting, and I will convene a public 13 hearing on the proposed Kerr County 2011 tax rate. I -- I 14 have some participation forms that have been filed by 15 individuals, and we will go through those. If there's anyone 16 that wishes to be heard, it's helpful if I have a 17 participation form to make sure that I don't miss you. They 18 can be found at the rear of the room, and we'd prefer that 19 you fill one out and get that to us. But at this time, 20 Mr. John Vanderkam. Mr. Vanderkam, your address is 2849 21 Bandera Highway; is that correct? 22 MR. VANDERKAM: That is correct. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: All right, sir. 24 MR. VANDERKAM: I just have a question for the 25 Commissioners this morning. When you went through the budget 9-21-11 4 1 process, did you -- and you were looking for cost reduction 2 items, did you consider closing the west Kerr County tax 3 office in Ingram? 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Mr. Vanderkam, on a public hearing 5 matter, we have the opportunity to listen to you, -- 6 MR. VANDERKAM: Okay. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: -- but we don't respond. 8 MR. VANDERKAM: Okay. Well, don't. (Laughter.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Well, I wanted to tell you why 10 you're not going to get an answer to your question. 11 MR. VANDERKAM: Okay. But, you know, if you look 12 at it, is it -- you have to ask yourself, is it a necessity, 13 or just a nice thing to have out there? And in my mind, the 14 people that live in Ingram and the west Kerr County area, 15 they can get in their car or truck and drive over here to the 16 courthouse, just like I have to do from the east side of 17 town. Now, back in the day when we were riding horses, maybe 18 we needed something out there, you know, because it was maybe 19 too far to ride that horse to -- to the courthouse. But I 20 think in this day and age, I think that's not a necessity any 21 longer, okay? 22 JUDGE TINLEY: We appreciate it. There may be some 23 consideration of various budget items -- there is an agenda 24 item afterwards, and there may be some mention of that when 25 we get to that, if that subject comes up. So, if you want to 9-21-11 5 1 stay after the public hearing, why, then you can get your 2 answer, possibly. 3 MR. VANDERKAM: I'll read about it in the 4 newspaper. 5 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. Well, okay. Mr. Harold 6 Buell? And you show an address of 1214 Jack Drive here in 7 Kerrville. Is that correct, sir? 8 MR. BUELL: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 10 MR. BUELL: Got my notes here so I won't forget 11 what I want to say. I'm a longtime business owner, property 12 owner, and homeowner here in Kerr County. I want to just 13 express my concern over the proposed tax increase. As a 14 small business owner, I've learned that my expenses -- when 15 my expenses outweigh my income, I can't just raise my prices. 16 People go somewhere else. So I have to look for ways to cut 17 my expenses, look for more efficient ways of doing business. 18 And in many instances, I've cut my own pay. Not because I 19 want to, or just -- you know, you just have to do that. 20 Because of the uneven tax structure we've allowed, much of 21 the tax burden falls on us small business owners and middle 22 class homeowners. Let me make it clear; we're struggling to 23 pay the current tax rate, and that's the truth. I mean, I'm 24 sure you realize that. Instead of considering the amount of 25 tax increase you would impose on us, I think it's time, and 9-21-11 6 1 you should use your efforts and you should spend time on 2 where can we cut and decrease the tax rate? 3 I know it's difficult to cut back, but it's kind of 4 like my eating habits. I don't like to cut back, and I don't 5 like to not eat what I like to eat, but when I actually 6 discipline myself and do it, the results are wonderful. I 7 lose weight, I feel better, and -- and those are things that 8 we all have to go through. And I know it's -- I understand 9 it's tough to say no to a lot of things, but now's the time 10 to cut, not to increase. I have confidence in you guys. I 11 know all you guys. Your abilities are tremendous. And I 12 think maybe if you could focus your attention in these areas, 13 then we could find some real savings without hurting anybody. 14 I was just listening this morning on the news, and some 15 governor -- I can't remember -- over on the east coast, he 16 had inherited a big debt before all of this economic fallout, 17 and he -- he was proactive and he paid his employees to find 18 ways -- incentives. 19 I mean, the idea I had was, why not have a bonus -- 20 I give my employees a commission. If you can find a way to 21 make a permanent cut, I'll give you a piece of that. That's 22 a win-win deal. The employee gets a raise; the County saves 23 money. I mean, I know it's more complicated than that, but 24 those are areas that I think maybe we should think about. 25 So, I thank you for your attention. You know, I just have to 9-21-11 7 1 say, myself and my small little world of influence cannot 2 support anybody that will vote for any kind of tax increase 3 right now. So, I appreciate your concern. Thank you. 4 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, sir. Patsy Yarbrough? 5 Ms. Yarbrough, you show an address of 850 Clay Street here in 6 Kerrville; is that correct? 7 MS. YARBROUGH: Yes, sir. 8 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. 9 MS. YARBROUGH: I'm here -- good morning. My name 10 is Patsy, and I'm here on behalf of the Kerr County 11 employees. I personally live on Social Security. Like 12 county employees, we have not had a raise in a few years 13 either. Every month it gets harder for me to get by on my 14 income. I can only imagine what the county employees are 15 going through. Some of them have families. They're putting 16 their kids through school, and that in itself is a hard thing 17 to do. Last year, the County raised -- changed their 18 insurance, and I know someone who is a cancer survivor. Her 19 deductible is now $3,000. She may as well not have the 20 insurance; she can't afford the co-payments. I also know the 21 cost of owning your own home has gone up. I also know there 22 are a lot of county employees on government assistance food 23 programs. Why? Because they have not made it on their own 24 salaries. I personally -- some of these employees work, and 25 I know they have to taskmaster in order to do their job. I 9-21-11 8 1 have seen them stressed, nerves on end, to the point of 2 losing their hair. I suggest that you spend 30 minutes with 3 the county employees and then say they do not deserve a 4 raise. I believe you will feel like I do, that yes, they do 5 deserve a raise. They are here to serve us. They are doing 6 their jobs well, so please give them a raise. Thank you. 7 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, ma'am. Mr. Don Shelton. 8 MR. SHELTON: Okay. 9 JUDGE TINLEY: This shows an address of 488 Wharton 10 Road. 11 MR. SHELTON: Yes. And I don't know if I'm 12 stepping on somebody's toes or their tongue that's already 13 been up here, because I'm deaf, but I want to talk about the 14 county raises. And when I drove out of Wharton Road this 15 morning, there was a crew already there. Wasn't a supervisor 16 there, but these guys are professionals, and they don't seem 17 to need someone watching them all the time. And I'm 18 responding to some things I read in the paper. If you fire 19 all these, 50 more will be there to take the job, but how 20 many of them can drop the bucket on a front-end loader and 21 take the top one-half inch of dirt and gravel off the road 22 and not damage the pavement? Or do the same thing with a 23 maintenance -- a grader, or not put the pneumatic roller in 24 the ditch? 25 Four or five years ago, I would have -- up to four. 9-21-11 9 1 For the last four or five years, I would have said, "I'm not 2 getting those services either. Why should have I to pay?" 3 But people don't realize how many roads there are in the 4 county, and how few people to maintain those roads. And the 5 worst thing I get is, my taxes pay your salary. That means 6 you got 12,000-some-odd bosses, and that ain't right. It 7 pays for everybody's. These guys, all I would like to see 8 them get -- and I'm extrapolating their salaries down from 9 what the County Commissioners are, and you're not paid 10 enough. You're the best damn deal in the county. I would 11 like to see them -- their salaries increased above the 12 federal poverty level for free and reduced lunches if they 13 have three or four kids. And I don't think somebody that 14 lives in a community that has -- and that includes me, too -- 15 that has a house that is -- all the houses in the community 16 are $350,000 median price. I just don't think they should be 17 making a decision like that concerning these people that are 18 not making that much money. Did I step on any toes? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, sir. 20 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: No, sir. 21 JUDGE TINLEY: If you did, you did. So be it. 22 MR. SHELTON: Thank you. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Mr. Shelton. We 24 appreciate it. Is there anyone else that wishes to be heard 25 with respect to the proposed Kerr County 2011 tax rate? 9-21-11 10 1 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, I will, Judge. Harold 2 and I are friends; have been for quite a while. But one 3 thing I think people need to understand is, of course, 4 Sheriff's Department, including the jail and bailiffs here at 5 the courthouse, are probably one of the largest employers of 6 county employees. And what I've seen over the last couple of 7 years, the average employee I have, their salary went down 8 $53 a month -- I mean a pay period, every -- so it's over 9 $100 a month that dropped. On top of that, we cut positions, 10 and I think the County has tightened its belt. All of y'all 11 have. You put us department heads all through the wringer 12 for the last several years trying to tighten the belt, and I 13 think the County's done real well at trying to do exactly 14 what Harold said. Let's find ways of cutting. Let's find 15 ways of doing that. 16 Well, that's what's been going on. That part 17 doesn't ever make the papers. It's just if you use that 18 three-letter word, tax increase; that makes the paper. But 19 everybody in this county, including yourselves, and every 20 county employee has tried to do, on y'all's guidance, 21 everything we can do to cut those. But now we are at the 22 point of having employees that are back on federal 23 assistance, having employees that are on free-lunch programs, 24 having employees that are underpaid compared to our neighbors 25 across the street, our neighbors in other counties or 9-21-11 11 1 whatever. We are at the point of losing employees because of 2 the pay scale. 3 Now, true, Kerrville's a fabulous place to live. 4 Kerr County is, and we all want to stay here. But we're at 5 the point where, financially, people can't afford to stay 6 here if we don't start taking better care of them. I'll be 7 the first one -- and, of course, I should; I'm the leader of 8 that department, but I think we've got the best Sheriff's 9 Department around here. It's taken us about 10 years to do 10 it. The Judge can remember, and a lot of y'all were on this 11 court when we had a lot of issues because of underpay. I 12 don't want to see us go backwards. On a $100,000 home, 13 business, or whatever, you're talking one dollar a month. 14 When I stop at the convenience store and buy a cup of coffee, 15 it's normally over a dollar. 16 You're talking one cup of coffee a month; maybe 17 two, if you did a two-cent, a month. Okay? And the only 18 thing I ask is that every time any of these people and 19 citizens that want to complain on trying to take care -- and 20 like I saw in the letter to the editor, that, well, people 21 out in Comanche Trace didn't get much service from the county 22 employees. Yeah, they do. Look at this courthouse and look 23 at what it runs. Look at their deeds. Look at everything 24 else that goes on, okay? The county employees have 10 times 25 the responsibility and the liability, and you've got to have 9-21-11 12 1 good, educated employees to be able to do that. And the only 2 thing I would ask all these people, are your officers on the 3 street not worth a cup of coffee a month? And if they can 4 honestly sit there and say that those deputies -- and there's 5 only five covering 1,100 square miles now at a time. If you 6 can sit there and raise that cup of coffee, or any of our 7 citizens can sit there and raise that cup of coffee and say, 8 you know, it's not worth me raising one cup of coffee a month 9 to pay these guys any better, then I guess I'm in the wrong 10 business. But I guarantee you, it's worth it. 11 We've got good employees. Let's don't go 12 backwards. Pay the employees -- I'm not asking to make them 13 all rich. We're not asking to pay them any more; it's hard 14 times for everybody. But at least let us keep the good 15 employees we have by paying them what they're due. 'Cause 16 they're already -- if you raised it -- if you gave them a six 17 and a half percent raise right now, it would not even break 18 even with what they lost last year. Six and a half percent. 19 I know that's what the Judge proposed, and I agree with it, 20 but I don't see it probably happening with this Court. I 21 don't know. I pray it does, but six and a half percent won't 22 even get them to where they were last year. Thank you. 23 JUDGE TINLEY: Anyone else wish to be heard? 24 MS. UECKER: I just want to mention one thing. 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Linda Uecker, District Clerk. 9-21-11 13 1 MS. UECKER: Okay. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Oak Way? 3 MS. UECKER: Oak Way. 106 Oak Way, Precinct 2. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Good. 5 MS. UECKER: I just want to mention one thing that 6 hasn't been brought up, and I'm going to speak on behalf of 7 my office and Jannett's office. And I don't know how many of 8 you know it, but our employees must be bonded and insured. 9 That can't happen if they have poor credit scores. And I 10 don't know how many -- I don't know if that's the same for 11 the Tax Office? Diane's shaking her head yes, it is. And I 12 know from speaking to the Auditor last year, that there were 13 issues. We had some employees which almost did not get 14 bonded and insured. I think my bond for my office right now 15 is at -- is it 200? Or -- I don't know; I have to go back 16 and look. I didn't look at those numbers, but it's getting 17 higher all the time. The more money we take in, the higher 18 that bond gets and the stricter that is on the employees. 19 So, we have to figure out a nice way to tell them, "Look, you 20 need to take care of your business," and for some of them, 21 that's hard to do. I mean, I'm not saying one way or the 22 other. I just need to let this Court and the public and the 23 press know that these folks must be bonded and insured. So I 24 know I had a couple in my office, and Jeannie had to really 25 struggle last year -- or year before, whenever it was, to 9-21-11 14 1 find somebody that -- that would bond some of those folks. 2 So, I mean, that's another thing we're looking at. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Anyone else wish to be 4 heard with respect to the proposed Kerr County 2011 tax rate? 5 MR. GARCIA: Ray Garcia, Kerr County Environmental 6 Health Department Director, 118 Cedar Way. 7 MS. UECKER: Precinct 2. 8 MR. GARCIA: Precinct 2. 9 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Glad you're here. 10 MR. GARCIA: Thank you. I don't get up and say 11 much a lot of times in these hearings. I've sat now since 12 2007 as the Director of the Environmental Health Department. 13 To the public that's here, ever since I took over that 14 department, we were instructed to reduce our budget, and we 15 continually did that. Reduced and reduced and reduced. So, 16 for those in the public, we have, and I believe we -- we all 17 did that in our departments, sometimes coming to a critical 18 point of maybe getting too close to jeopardizing the services 19 or the continuity of the services that we provide to the 20 public. With 1,100, plus or minus, square miles of the 21 county, and a handful, under five employees in that 22 department that have to take care of the county, and 23 responsible for the health, safety, and welfare and our 24 natural resources in our county, that's a lot of 25 responsibility. And the cost in that compared to my budget, 9-21-11 15 1 we are on that -- that threshold now of being really close to 2 not being able to provide that professional service. 3 I've reduced my budget very, very, very close to -- 4 you could almost say almost setting yourself up for failure. 5 I can't go down any more and still continue to provide that 6 type of service in the county. My employees -- our -- our 7 employees, our county employees, are some of the best I've 8 served with. I'm going to back up a little bit and say I've 9 served my country for 23 years and provided freedom, just 10 like many are doing today, and that will in the future 11 provide. I've been part of these reductions -- budget 12 reductions. I was -- I was in the military when we reduced 13 to a two-theater global military, so I am no stranger to 14 reducing the budget. But when the public constantly asks us 15 to do more with less, I can tell you, we are putting that 16 effort forward and we're doing that. We -- we're extending 17 these people that we have, sometimes beyond what I expect 18 them to do. And -- and, again, a lot of the public doesn't 19 see this, or they just -- you know, it just goes by the 20 wayside. 21 So, I think my point to the Court and to the public 22 is -- is that, yes, we do look and we cut our budgets. And, 23 again, I'll say that we're very close to setting ourselves up 24 for failure. And we don't have a lot of fluff in our 25 budgets. And I can tell you mine, personally -- I think, 9-21-11 16 1 Tess, the last time I talked to you, I got a $30,000 2 operating budget for the whole county. Now, if you look at 3 the size of the county and the employees -- I got five -- 4 that's a good bang for your buck out there. I really think 5 it is. But what I constantly keep hearing time and time 6 again is that we ought to be glad that we got a job. You 7 know, I never thought that when I was in Afghanistan or I was 8 in Iraq, and somebody said, "Hey, go out there and do your 9 job." I didn't stop and say, "Hey, you know what? I guess I 10 should be glad to have a job here." To me, that's an insult 11 when people say that, because public service is just that. 12 You have people here in our county -- and I've 13 served with the best in the world, and that's our United 14 States military. And we -- and everybody else that has an 15 opportunity to voice your opinion, it's because of our 16 military, and don't ever forget that. And you guys -- 17 everybody in this courtroom has somebody either serving now, 18 or that has served in whatever wars that we've gone through. 19 But, please, I ask the public, don't -- don't tell me -- or 20 don't tell us as public servants that we ought to be glad to 21 have a job. We like to serve our public. I've served our 22 public since I was 18 years old, and I continue to do that. 23 I just ask people to look a little bit more. Our budgets are 24 online, and look what we do. We provide one heck of a 25 service to this county, and we do, frankly, a damn good job 9-21-11 17 1 at it. Everybody does. 2 And it's just like the Sheriff said; how much are 3 we worth? We're not asking to get rich here. We're trying 4 to get our people off of assistance. Everybody's office, you 5 come in in the morning -- I come in early in the morning; I 6 see people here early in the morning, late in the evening. 7 Diane's here, Linda's here, the Auditor's office is here. 8 The Sheriff's guys, whenever they can get a break, they go 9 home. Five people to take care of this whole county. And I 10 still want to be protected out there. So, what I'm saying 11 is -- is please just remember that none of our salaries in 12 here are expansive. I mean, we're not asking for a massive 13 raise. Again, this gentleman said just a little bit for our 14 employees. Just a little bit. Rusty already gave an example 15 of what a dollar -- a dollar a month. You know, I'd be glad 16 to give that for the protection of my family in this town and 17 this county. Again, I just want to let some of the public 18 here know, and everybody else on the Court know that we do 19 one -- one heck of a job, and we try to reduce our budgets. 20 But we have to be very careful in that, because what service 21 we have out there in the county, it could be eroded by 22 reducing the budget a little too much. That's all I got to 23 say. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good job. 9-21-11 18 1 JUDGE TINLEY: Any other member of the public that 2 wishes to be heard with respect to the proposed Kerr County 3 2011 tax rate? Anyone else? 4 MS. PIEPER: I do, Judge. As usual. I just want 5 to remind y'all that for the last couple of years, not only 6 the Auditor, but our H.R. Director that we had for a couple 7 of years, had tried to express to y'all, raise the taxes just 8 a little bit every year for a little while until we get our 9 reserves up, and y'all didn't do that. Had you done that, I 10 think it would have -- we'd have been in better shape. But I 11 also want to express to y'all that it seems as though not 12 only the employees, but the appointed officials and elected 13 officials are getting tired of having to -- for our employees 14 to suffer. And I know that Linda had mentioned our bond. We 15 have to keep our credit ratings up, and it's gotten to the 16 point to where our employees are really hurting. It's got to 17 the point to where they're making their payments, but some of 18 them are late on making their payments. Well, that hurts our 19 credit. And I know I've got two employees that have 20 expressed their concern to me on that. They own homes; 21 they're taxpayers. They've got children, and they're 22 hurting. So, I would like to request for our employees to 23 get the increase. Thank you. 24 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you. Anyone else wish to be 25 heard with respect to the proposed 2011 Kerr County tax rate? 9-21-11 19 1 I have a communication here from a Mr. Mitchell Hogg, 2 H-o-g-g, who shows an address of 4651 Highway 27, and he 3 indicated in that communication that it was likely he could 4 not be present today for the public hearing, so he requested 5 that we consider his viewpoint in the manner of absentee 6 comments. He had a number of things to say about a whole lot 7 of subjects which are not directly related to the 2011 tax 8 rate. However, with regard to the tax rate, he sums up by 9 saying, "Consider my vote yes if the proposed two-cent 10 increase of Kerr County tax rate enables us to provide 11 reasonable C.O.L., cost-of-living, for all employees, merit 12 increases granted when appropriate, and if the revenue 13 collected will pay all current-year obligations and provide 14 the reserve fund requirements to keep up with the increasing 15 costs of being a multifaceted service provider." He asks 16 that that be included in the record, and I'm doing so at his 17 request. Anyone else wishing to be heard with regard to the 18 proposed Kerr County 2011 tax rate? Seeing no one else 19 desiring to be recognized to be heard, I will close the 20 public hearing with regard to the Kerr County 2011 tax rate, 21 and I will reconvene the Commissioners Court meeting. 22 (The public hearing was concluded at 9:31 a.m., and the regular Commissioners Court meeting was 23 reopened.) 24 - - - - - - - - - - 25 JUDGE TINLEY: Item 2 on the agenda is to consider, 9-21-11 20 1 discuss, and take appropriate action on various matters in 2 the proposed fiscal year 2011-12 Kerr County budget. Any 3 member of the Court wish to throw anything on the table 4 relative to the budget at this time? There will be other 5 opportunities next Monday and next week, but I had indicated 6 to the Court that I would continue to put this on the agenda 7 every meeting we had to give you the opportunity to have 8 those discussions if you wish, and so it's open for that 9 discussion. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Judge, I do not at this 11 time, but I will -- I will on Monday. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Same thing here, Judge. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: All right. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think the same thing. I just 16 want to make a general comment, that we said -- I guess for 17 all the elected officials, department heads that spoke, is 18 that I think as a county, we've done a really good job in 19 recent years of cutting the budget. For those that don't 20 know it -- many in the room do, but some people may not -- 21 that we put on a hiring freeze last year, and we've reduced 22 our staff overall by about, oh, 10 -- about 10 percent. 23 Those were temporary reductions. We left those slots in this 24 year, but next year we've taken pretty much all of those 25 positions out, so we have cut last year to make the -- you 9-21-11 21 1 know, and we did have a tax increase last year. But even to 2 do that, we took a -- basically $300,000 straight out of Road 3 and Bridge, deferred all road maintenance for a year. And 4 the reality is that we are in a very tight budget situation. 5 The employees -- we asked all of them to -- and 6 department heads, to, you know, look for ways to find 7 savings. By reducing staff, we've asked everyone to do more 8 work. And by doing that, I mean, the employees are -- you 9 know, in my mind, should get an increase. And I think that 10 we have a -- we'll be able to come through with a balanced 11 budget based on what we heard at the last meeting that will 12 not require a tax increase, my hope, and provide for a pay 13 increase for all employees, and put some back in reserve. 14 And the only way we've been able to do that is to really cut 15 the budget. If the economy stays where it is, I'm not sure 16 how much longer we can do that. It's going to -- we are in a 17 -- it's a difficult situation. The reserves are at a 18 critically low point for the county. If we did have a big 19 disaster, we'd be, frankly, in big trouble. If we had 20 something happen like in Bastrop, we'd be underwater; we 21 couldn't handle something like that with our reserve 22 situation. 23 So, we're trying to dig out of where we are slowly. 24 The employees took a big hit last year, the combination of 25 the no pay raise and the insurance changes we made. We're 9-21-11 22 1 trying to give -- give some of the insurance benefits back 2 this year. I think we will be able to do that. But I just 3 want to mainly -- my reason for speaking is for the public to 4 be aware that this county as a whole has done a phenomenal 5 job of cutting expenses. We have really cut in every area, 6 every department, and we've had cooperation throughout the 7 county of all the employees, elected officials, department 8 heads to accomplish that. But we can only ask so much. We 9 have got to give some increase this year. Hopefully we can 10 do it without a tax increase. We're still waiting on the 11 final numbers. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Anything else? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: Commissioner Oehler? 15 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: I totally agree with what you 16 said, and it's -- it has been a joint effort. That effort 17 did not exist some years ago. But it has been a total 18 cooperation, and a cooperation like -- I know this Court has 19 seen it the last several years, but in the previous years, 20 that was not the case. And a lot of -- a lot of other 21 offices being willing to cut and make do with less, and I 22 commend them for doing that, every one of them. And I just 23 think that we have -- we have done what the public wants 24 government to do, and expects government to do. There are a 25 lot of others that aren't doing and have not done what -- 9-21-11 23 1 what this county group has done. And we are getting to the 2 point to where, you know, I don't know where you -- we have 3 statutory things that must be performed, and that have to be 4 funded to a level to where they can do their job. And that's 5 unlike some other governments that are not under that same 6 gun. And, you know, we have to -- we have to fund things to 7 where they can operate. That goes with the statute and state 8 law. So, I think there we are. We'll see what happens on 9 Monday. But I -- I feel a lot the same way Jon does. 10 JUDGE TINLEY: Thank you, Commissioner. There was 11 mention about Road and Bridge deferring their road 12 maintenance program for one year. I hope that doesn't create 13 a problem in the overall condition of our roads and put us in 14 a catch-up mode to try and keep those, because our Road and 15 Bridge Department has done an excellent job in taking care of 16 our roads, and I suspect that had that -- had that been a 17 serious risk, the Road and Bridge Administrator would have 18 said, "No, I've got to do some." But they did their part. 19 The other department heads and elected officials have -- 20 these cuts have been because of their efforts, their 21 cooperation, their encouragement, coercion, whatever other 22 verb form you wish to use, talking their employees into, 23 "We're all going to have to keep doing what a larger staff 24 had been doing, plus some more." 25 As all of you know, the Legislature met this year, 9-21-11 24 1 and we will have more to do as a result of that, and less to 2 do it with in the way of state funds. We're aware of a 3 number of areas in which the State has reduced funding in 4 certain areas, has passed along some mandates to us, which, 5 of course, are unfunded. In areas where there was a 6 requirement for a fee to be paid for a particular service, 7 previously it may have been that we send 30 percent to the 8 state and we retain 70 percent. Every time the Legislature 9 meets, that changes. And I think you can -- I think you can 10 assure yourself without any reservation that it changes for 11 the state's benefit, and not for the county's benefit. And 12 -- and we see that happening all the time, every two years. 13 The old saying, "When the Legislature meets, your life, 14 liberty, and property are in jeopardy," and that's literally 15 true. So, the public needs to be aware of the limitations 16 that we operate under. 17 Mr. Buell mentioned that -- that he can't raise his 18 prices. What he meant to say was he was not going to raise 19 his prices, because his competitive advantage would be lost. 20 We can't raise our prices. We don't even get to set our 21 prices; the state sets that. The only thing we have control 22 over is the tax rate. That's the only item that we have 23 control over. And the appraisal is done outside by the 24 Appraisal District. We get those values; we operate from 25 them. The fees that are set are set by the Legislature. We 9-21-11 25 1 don't have any discretionary type services, such as utility 2 services, by which we can -- if we see a shortfall in 3 revenue, that we can use that discretionary service and 4 adjust the cost of it to fill the gap. They simply don't 5 exist in county government. It's not there. So, we've got 6 to do what we say we're going to do when we set that tax rate 7 one time a year. That's the only shot we got at it. 8 And as Commissioner Letz said, we have -- in 9 addition to chopping things and getting the cooperation from 10 employees and elected officials and department heads to find 11 ways to reduce by not filling vacant positions, we're 12 actually increasing job responsibilities, job descriptions of 13 employees, which are customarily a normal basis for 14 increasing someone's pay. Well, that's not coming with it, 15 unfortunately. So, we -- we make that happen. But it's -- 16 it's a matter of the public being more aware of what we do. 17 I think there's a void of information out there in the 18 public. We don't have anybody that handles marketing on our 19 staff, or public relations, and frankly, we don't do a real 20 good job of that. We pay attention to what the public wants 21 us to do, and that's do the business that they want us to do, 22 do it in an absolute first-class, professional manner, and go 23 on about our business with the next citizen. So, those of 24 you that are getting a better education about what we're 25 doing, I hope that you pass along that information to the 9-21-11 26 1 citizens that don't really know. 2 I proposed in the budget that I filed -- as I said 3 before, I make no apologies for it. Actually, I don't think 4 -- I don't think that there's a need for an apology. I don't 5 think any member of this Court says that these employees 6 don't deserve it. The issue is, we're trying to put up with 7 hard times, just like everybody else. There's another 8 misconception that maybe I said that the cost-of-living 9 index, the C.P.I. index that we all listen to year in and 10 year out -- the number I used, I think, was 8.73. That 11 wasn't just for one year. That goes back to '08, which is 12 the last cost-of-living increase. Actually, with the most 13 recent number out for July now, it's up to 9.03. So, I'm 14 just trying to get a piece of the catch-up here. I think 15 they deserve it. They deserve more, very frankly. 16 As Commissioner Letz said, we're trying to see if 17 we can do something a little bit better in the health 18 benefits part of the program, but we still got a long ways to 19 go there. But I appreciate every employee of county 20 government. They're dedicated. They're hardworking. They 21 know what they're doing. As Mr. Shelton mentioned, yeah, 22 there's folks out there waiting in line to have a job, but 23 how many of them can you bring in here and say, "Get on that 24 maintainer and peel off an eighth of an inch"? Those people 25 don't exist. We trained them over a series of years with 9-21-11 27 1 good supervision, good fellow employees, good equipment, and 2 they do absolutely masterful work. I can't say enough good 3 things about them everywhere. They deserve it. And I'm 4 going to -- I want to insist that we -- we stay true to 5 course. Give them the six and a half. It's not enough, but 6 it's an expression of our confidence in them, that -- that we 7 are committed to taking care of them. Anything further from 8 any of you gentlemen? We'll be adjourned. 9 MS. BOLIN: Wait. We need to set the date for the 10 adoption of the tax rate. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought that was Monday. 12 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Isn't that Monday? 13 MS. BOLIN: 29th. 14 JUDGE TINLEY: No, it's the 29th. 15 MS. BOLIN: It has to be done, so it has to be in 16 the paper tomorrow. The notification has to be in the paper 17 tomorrow, seven days before. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I thought it was set for the 19 29th. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, it's set for the 29th. 21 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: 9 o'clock. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 9 o'clock. 23 MS. BOLIN: We set it already? 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're coming in here to vote 25 on it. I hope you're here. 9-21-11 28 1 MS. BOLIN: Well, I know that. 2 JUDGE TINLEY: Actually, I don't think it's at 3 9 o'clock. I think it was 9:30, if I'm not mistaken, 9:30 or 4 10:00. 5 MS. BOLIN: Usually it's at 10:00. 6 JUDGE TINLEY: We'll check it. But I'm -- it's one 7 -- it's 9:30 or 10:00, because we have the budget coming in 8 ahead of it. 9 MS. BOLIN: Okay. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Just a second. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's on the 29th? 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Mm-hmm. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got 8 o'clock. 14 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Start it at 8:00? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why don't we -- so the paper 16 gets it, why don't we check it real quick? 17 MS. BOLIN: Yeah. 18 COMMISSIONER OEHLER: Is that what Jody's doing? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think she read my mind. So I 20 can get on it my calendar right. 21 (Low-voice discussion off the record.) 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We have Commissioners Court 23 on Monday. 24 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Thursday would be -- 25 Thursday, how it works is you have the proposed tax decision 9-21-11 29 1 first. Then we go into the final decision on the budget at 2 the same time; is that correct? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah. Kind of, yeah. 4 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Okay. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One does the other -- 6 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: Got to do the first one -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One mandates the second. 8 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: There you go. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Do the tax rate, then you have 10 the budget pretty much -- or we do it the other way; budget, 11 then tax rate. Either way, they go hand-in-hand. 12 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah. 13 MS. GRINSTEAD: I don't show it as being set. 14 MS. BOLIN: I don't think we ever did a motion on 15 it. We set the public hearings, but not the date. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Want to do it at 10 o'clock? 17 JUDGE TINLEY: Yeah, we'll do it at 10:00. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'll make a motion that it be 19 set at 10 o'clock on the 29th. 20 JUDGE TINLEY: Let me reopen the -- let's reopen 21 and get back into session. I inadvertently adjourned the 22 meeting when I should not have. The -- the time and date for 23 adopting the 2011 Kerr County tax rate, do I hear a motion 24 that that be set for 10 o'clock on Thursday, the 29th of 25 September? 9-21-11 30 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So moved. 2 COMMISSIONER OVERBY: I'll second that. 3 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion made and seconded. Question 4 or discussion? All in favor, signify by raising your right 5 hand. 6 (The motion carried by unanimous vote.) 7 JUDGE TINLEY: All opposed? 8 (No response.) 9 JUDGE TINLEY: Motion carries. 10 MS. BOLIN: Thank you. 11 JUDGE TINLEY: Okay, gentlemen. Now, anything 12 further? We'll be adjourned. 13 (Commissioners Court adjourned at 9:49 a.m.) 14 - - - - - - - - - - 15 STATE OF TEXAS | 16 COUNTY OF KERR | 17 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 18 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 19 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 20 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 21 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 28th day of September, 22 2011. 23 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 24 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 25 Certified Shorthand Reporter 9-21-11