1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Budget Workshop 10 Monday, July 28, 2014 11 1:30 p.m. 12 Commissioners' Courtroom 13 Kerr County Courthouse 14 Kerrville, Texas 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 PRESENT: TOM POLLARD, Kerr County Judge H. A. "BUSTER" BALDWIN, Commissioner Pct. 1 24 TOM MOSER, Commissioner Pct. 2 JONATHAN LETZ, Commissioner Pct. 3 25 BOB REEVES, Commissioner Pct. 4 2 1 I N D E X July 28, 2014 2 PAGE 3 --- Review and discuss FY 2014-15 individual department budgets 3 4 --- Adjourned 45 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Monday, July 28, 2014, at 1:30 p.m., a budget 2 workshop of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. It's July the 28th, and it's 8 about 1:33 p.m. We finally have a quorum, so the Kerr County 9 Commissioners Court is in session. Now we have four here -- 10 five -- well, is Buster not going to be here? 11 MR. BOLLIER: He's coming. You can't hear him? 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Do you have his proxy, James? 13 MR. ROBLES: Yeah. (Laughter.) 14 MR. ODOM: Road and Bridge would like his pay in my 15 capital outlay. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Is Buster coming, really? Anybody 17 know? 18 MS. GRINSTEAD: He's in his office; he's just on 19 his way. Probably has someone in with him. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Remind him what time it is. 21 (Discussion off the record.) 22 JUDGE POLLARD: What did he say? 23 MR. BOLLIER: I did not -- 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I didn't say words like 25 that. (Laughter.) 7-28-14 bwk 4 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Why don't you repeat that on the 2 record in here? 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: No. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: I can hold -- I do have a power of 5 contempt. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'm already content. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. We are now a full 8 court, and we are here for the purpose of studying the -- 9 this is a workshop to study our budget. We are holding this 10 meeting pursuant to Chapter 5 -- Title 5, Chapter 551, 11 Government Code, and Title 5, Chapter 552, Government Code. 12 This is a workshop for the fiscal year 2014 individual 13 department budgets. All right. I've looked over this stuff 14 briefly, Jeannie. It's a really good report, easily -- good 15 information, and is right here in front of us. We don't have 16 to dig it out. I appreciate everything in all of this. I 17 like it a lot. 18 MS. HARGIS: Jennifer says thank you. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Appreciate it. Thank you. And I 20 know James had something to do with it too, obviously. Thank 21 you, sir. 22 MS. HARGIS: It takes a team, and we got a good 23 team. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. How do we want to 25 approach this? 7-28-14 bwk 5 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got a couple of 2 questions. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, we'll go with Number 1 4 first. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I am on this page. 6 MS. HARGIS: Which one? 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This one. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Is it this one? 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Proposed budget changes. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, that's the first page. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It would be a lot like 12 Page 1. Well, that depends on where you're from, of course. 13 Jail court, about a quarter of the way down, is that -- does 14 that mean that that thing is zeroed out? 15 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's kaput? No mas? Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Buster? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah? 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Jail court, that's the one that 20 we set up to get -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Friday mornings. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- prisoners through? 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. It just doesn't work 24 any more. The federal people are smarter than we are, and it 25 just doesn't work. And Sheriff's Department, about 7-28-14 bwk 6 1 three-quarters of the way down, it looks like that's been 2 reduced by $225,930. Is that -- is that the four employees 3 that he requested? 4 MS. HARGIS: No, sir, it's -- it's one employee. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: One employee, okay. 6 MS. HARGIS: And the cars that go along with the -- 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that four cars? 8 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I've got the number four in 10 my mind somewhere; I didn't know what it was. 11 MS. HARGIS: Yeah. We actually took out the three 12 employees, but we took out the cars. There were some 13 associated costs with uniforms. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. 15 MS. HARGIS: Medical exams, things of that nature. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And all that stuff, that's 17 what been taken out? 18 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. We did put a little bit back 19 in his. His is now 243. Under your new book, Buster, you'll 20 see it's 243. He did request a little bit more back in 21 medical. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right. Because -- 23 MS. HARGIS: Because the medical is going over this 24 year, and so we put some more back in that. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's also requesting that we 7-28-14 bwk 7 1 consider putting 10,000 in somewhere for out-of-county. 2 MS. HARGIS: We did that. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is -- is that in here? 4 MS. HARGIS: It's in your new book. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: In my new book. In my new 6 book? 7 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay, great. Animal 9 Service -- Environmental Health, Animal Services. 10 MS. HARGIS: Mm-hmm? 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's been reduced by 12 20,000? 13 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. That was -- Mr. Garcia gave 14 me those changes. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. And Youth Exhibition 16 Center, or the Exhibition Center -- I don't know if it's -- 17 "youth" is still on that or not. 48,200. 18 MS. HARGIS: These were the capital items, and if 19 you -- we did go down a little bit on some of his routine 20 maintenance because of the fact it's not open for a full 12 21 months. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's all I've got right at 23 this moment. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Jeannie, can you give us just 25 an overall on what you've done in this, in coming up with it, 7-28-14 bwk 8 1 as far as -- I mean, you reduced personnel. I mean, what 2 were the top level things that you did? 3 MS. HARGIS: We did -- we took out all the 4 positions that had been requested. 5 JUDGE POLLARD: New positions. 6 MS. HARGIS: New positions, at the Judge's 7 direction. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 9 MS. HARGIS: We have gone through and looked at the 10 trends of some of the people, that perhaps they didn't spend 11 that over the years, and we have brought them back. Not 12 totally down, but a little bit down. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mm-hmm. 14 MS. HARGIS: And the big-ticket items came from -- 15 really, from Tim and some of the other -- everybody looked 16 and pretty much gave us a little bit. Some of them didn't -- 17 we didn't hear from, so we had to get it down again. We were 18 trying to -- and so we did it where we felt they would have 19 the least amount of problems. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 21 MS. HARGIS: Some of them we suggested, like in 22 Elections, that they go ahead and buy the ballots this year, 23 because we have money for the ballots this year, rather than 24 wait till next year. So, I've encouraged some of them to go 25 ahead -- where they had money left in the current year, to go 7-28-14 bwk 9 1 ahead and purchase these things now. If they're going to 2 need them in October, purchase them in September, and we'll 3 be okay. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, thank you. 5 MS. HARGIS: Because it's such a lean budget going 6 into next year. We have a little bit more flexibility in the 7 current year. I can see that we haven't spent all the money. 8 We only have a couple months to go, so it's much better for 9 them to -- to try to get those done this year. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 11 MS. HARGIS: But they're all -- you know, basically 12 the big ones all came from Rusty's and elimination of some of 13 the departments and things of that nature. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I see Tim here. The Jail 15 Maintenance, 34,000, and then Courthouse and Related 16 Buildings, 63,000. 17 MS. HARGIS: Those were -- we had capital items in 18 those areas, and that's why those are so high. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Like, tractors? Or, like, 20 what kind of capital items? 21 MR. BOLLIER: At the courthouse. That's here at 22 the courthouse. That's where I had the new carpet in there. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, yeah. 24 MR. BOLLIER: And things of that nature. Now, out 25 at the barn, I had -- I had something that I took out. The 7-28-14 bwk 10 1 only thing I had left in there was a lawnmower for 9,000. 2 So -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Where is -- where is Tim's -- 4 oh, I'm sorry. 5 MS. HARGIS: Tim's? Tim's going to be 5 -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, I need to ask my question. 7 Where's Tim's part on parks and things like that? 8 MR. BOLLIER: It's 510. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 510? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, let me finish my -- just 11 one sentence here right quick, and then I'll let y'all go. 12 But don't -- don't throw everything out to where you can't do 13 your job. 14 MR. BOLLIER: I did not do that. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 16 MR. BOLLIER: My question -- you know, I heard her 17 say that we cut $48,000 out of 666. I do not know -- I only 18 had -- in 666, I only had $31,000 cut out, and I heard her 19 say 48,000. My question is, where did the other 17 -- 20 MS. HARGIS: Some of it was previously cut at your 21 budget hearing, and then you cut another 31. This is the 22 total of everything. 23 MR. BOLLIER: Okay, I got you. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 48 is what's coming out. 25 MR. BOLLIER: Okay. 7-28-14 bwk 11 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's an awful lot of 2 money, okay. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And so -- okay, I'm sorry. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Go ahead. It's yours. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. So, what you're 6 saying -- you're acting like you didn't know what came out. 7 Or did you know? 8 MR. BOLLIER: I do now. I forgot about that she -- 9 what she did was she added what was already cut. I already 10 knew about that. 11 MS. HARGIS: This is the total from all of the 12 workshops. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. Okay. 14 MS. HARGIS: Things that the Court cut, and then 15 the things that he gave so that -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. If I got a detail 17 question, I can just go to 510 and look at it? 18 MS. HARGIS: Yes. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. All right. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The cost-of-living? 21 MS. HARGIS: Cost-of-living is in here. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's the amount of it? 23 MS. HARGIS: It's two and a half percent, because 24 that's our step and grade. It's very difficult for us to do 25 plus or minus that on our schedule, but we can if the Court 7-28-14 bwk 12 1 desires. 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So it is in there, or it is 3 not? 4 MS. HARGIS: It is in there. 5 MR. ROBLES: It's in 409. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: It's not cut. They're still 7 getting it. Better way to say it. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Indigent Health Care, what 9 all did we cut? And what does -- 10 MS. HARGIS: In Indigent Health Care, we cut a lot 11 of the hospital and the doctors that we have not used. And 12 we're currently at 131,000, and they've been sending us a 13 budget of about 300,000 or 400,000. I realize that the law 14 says that we're supposed to provide for that, but under the 15 new accounting rules and regs, Fund 50 is really part of the 16 general fund, and so if we needed that money, we have it in 17 the general fund to take care of any extra money that they 18 would need. So, rather than overbudget in that fund -- which 19 300,000, 350,000 is too much in that fund. 'Cause they -- if 20 you look back over the last three or four years, they've only 21 spent -- they were dropped down to 250, and last year was 22 175, and we only have one or two people on the program right 23 now. 24 MS. AYALA: No, we have seven. 25 MS. HARGIS: But some of those are going to get 7-28-14 bwk 13 1 reimbursed from Social Security. 2 MS. AYALA: If it's -- 3 MS. HARGIS: And most of the time, that works out. 4 MS. AYALA: Not always. The ones that are in jail, 5 you know -- 6 MS. HARGIS: I just can't justify putting an extra 7 $200,000 or $300,000 in their budget when we can get that out 8 of the general fund. 9 MS. AYALA: But we need it if we need it. 10 MS. HARGIS: It comes out of the general fund. And 11 I've tried to explain that. 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And is that in compliance 13 with the law? I mean, I'm not totally clear. 14 MS. HARGIS: If we had come in compliance with the 15 law, we'd have to put $2 million in there. 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Okay. 17 MS. LANTZ: It is in compliance. We have to go to 18 the general fund if we run out. I did do that program, so -- 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That's what I'm asking. We 20 don't have to put specifically a line item -- 21 MS. HARGIS: No. As long as we have a reserve, 22 that would handle it, which we do. That's a special revenue 23 fund, or a subsidiary fund, if you want to think of it that 24 way. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: By the way, that raises the 7-28-14 bwk 14 1 question, after -- after these cuts, and this is -- the 2 budget is balanced, so to speak. We needed a million, four, 3 I think, and we got 1,365,723. 4 MS. HARGIS: We still have -- we're still using 5 about $285,000 of our surplus, and that's why I gave you a 6 new summary sheet. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 8 MS. HARGIS: And that brings us to 25.57 percent, 9 so we still have -- 10 JUDGE POLLARD: 25.57 percent reserve? 11 MS. HARGIS: Right. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. So we still got our 25 13 percent. Barely. 14 MS. HARGIS: But after the -- the situation we just 15 averted, I think that we all agree -- at least that's the 16 first time I really worried about having that 25 percent. 17 And that could happen again next year. I mean, any kind of 18 protest like that, I mean, where our -- our revenue is 19 basically not coming in. Right now, as y'all know, we don't 20 have the revenue numbers. We will have them Friday, I hope. 21 MS. BOLIN: Maybe. 22 MS. HARGIS: Maybe. 23 MS. BOLIN: Friday or -- 24 MS. HARGIS: Friday or Monday. So, until we get 25 those solid revenue numbers -- which they really aren't 7-28-14 bwk 15 1 solid, but they're certified. At that point, we'll know if 2 we have any extra revenue, or deficit in revenue, that we 3 have to cut some more. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Has Fourth said we're going to get 5 it Friday or Monday at the latest? 6 MR. BOLLIER: We're trying to get the 95 percent 7 certified on Wednesday or Thursday, when the A.R.B. meet. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 9 MS. BOLIN: Once the A.R.B. meets and they reach 10 the 95, the A.R.B. approves it, then they give it to us. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: I'm just thinking, what happens if 12 it doesn't come in Monday -- by Monday? 13 MS. HARGIS: Well, I think it'll be shortly 14 thereafter. I think they're just -- they've had one of their 15 staff member's father passed away, so it kind of put them 16 back a little bit, I think. But they're working very hard to 17 get them done. We'd rather they be right when they send them 18 to us than not. But as long as we get them in that first 19 week so that she can do her publication, we're okay. 'Cause 20 she -- as soon as she gets them, she can do her publication, 21 and then we can go ahead and file this, so we -- so we can 22 meet all of our other deadlines. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We could -- we can go ahead 24 and file this? 25 MS. HARGIS: The budget. The proposed -- 7-28-14 bwk 16 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: This is going to be the 2 Judge's budget? 3 MS. HARGIS: Right, proposed budget. But it can be 4 changed, as you know, all throughout. But if we don't do 5 that, then we don't meet the deadlines of having it in to the 6 County Clerk and all. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 8 MS. HARGIS: But other than that, I mean, it can be 9 changed up until the last day, which y'all did last year, as 10 you know. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It can actually run over the 12 day. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me ask Tim a question. 14 Tim, refresh my memory. We were going to put more 15 port-a-potties at the parks year-round. Is that in this 16 budget? I'm just looking at the reductions. It didn't look 17 like there was any significant -- 18 MS. HARGIS: The port-a-potties come out of Fund 19 31, which is the parks. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me find that. 21 MS. HARGIS: And I don't think we have it listed 22 here, because we didn't make any changes in that one. It's 23 up in -- it's about halfway down on your budget summary 24 sheet. We have 25,000 in there, which is pretty much what 25 we've used. 7-28-14 bwk 17 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 2 MS. HARGIS: That's more than enough. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Is that 2531? Is that what 4 you're saying? 5 MS. HARGIS: No, just Fund 31. It says parks, and 6 then it says Fund 31, then 58,000. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, I see it, okay. Yeah. 8 Okay, another question. Where are volunteer fire 9 departments? 10 MS. HARGIS: Volunteer fire departments are under 11 Fire Protection, which is 14. You see the million, 387? 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay, got you. And is that -- 13 what do we have for each volunteer fire department in that? 14 MR. ROBLES: 21. 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: 21 per -- 16 MS. HARGIS: Per fire department. 17 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Some of them get a little 18 less. 19 MS. HARGIS: Two fire departments, Tierra Linda and 20 Castle Lake, get 15. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 22 MS. HARGIS: Because they're outside of the county, 23 but they do assist. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. What was the second 25 one? 7-28-14 bwk 18 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Castle Lake. 2 MS. HARGIS: Castle Lake. It's down by Center 3 Point. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Can't even get there from 5 here. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, I know. 7 MS. HARGIS: That will actually help cover our 8 volunteer fire departments. 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But that was a reduced one, 10 too. Okay. All right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess the majority of the big 12 cut came out of capital outlay, and both in Road and Bridge 13 and Sheriff's Department. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's that going to -- I 16 guess, looking into your crystal ball for 2016, and I 17 don't -- I don't want to make our problem even worse in 2016. 18 I mean, do you anticipate any of our fees -- revenue to come 19 up? 20 MS. HARGIS: No. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: You got a crystal ball? 22 MS. HARGIS: I think -- I'm hoping, perhaps, I'm 23 seeing some -- you know, like the Burger King sign and a few 24 -- that our sales tax would increase again slightly, which 25 would help us. The economy seems to be coming back a little 7-28-14 bwk 19 1 bit. The homes are selling here, where they had kind of 2 stopped, and I've seen where the real estate is beginning to 3 move here, which is one of our bigger items to move. There 4 has been some mention of -- I think Heather's talking about 5 adding a couple of dollars on a fine that she had that she 6 could go up on. It's not a lot of money, but it could end up 7 being a couple thousand dollars on discovery. The rest of 8 them is a trend that -- that we're seeing throughout the 9 state of Texas, in the -- in the stagnant -- more stagnant 10 counties where there's not a lot of growth. Unfortunately, 11 the counties to the south of us, and I would say the counties 12 to the west and then north, are -- have so much money, they 13 don't know what to do with it. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: In the oil patches, yeah. 15 MS. HARGIS: In the oil patch, yeah. I mean, we 16 were told at our county conference that one of them -- three 17 of the counties there are getting as much as $13 million a 18 month. The local banks won't even take their money. So, we 19 would like to have that problem, but then when you go to 20 drive that Pecos area and you see all the destruction that 21 those trucks are doing and everything else, I don't think we 22 want that problem. I really can't tell you on the fines and 23 fees, because the fines and fees are based on the courts. 24 They're based on, you know, people coming in and going to the 25 clerk's office to buy birth certificates and things of that 7-28-14 bwk 20 1 nature. The housing industry is where we really lost a lot 2 of our money. So, buying -- you know, the sites and the 3 surveys and platting, all that stuff. So, if that begins to 4 pick up again, then those fees will go up, but I haven't seen 5 any movement in the last four years in this field. In fact, 6 they've just -- really, I'm pushing it to get them to go up. 7 It's just -- they're just not moving. And it's not just us. 8 I mean, 'cause when ours first started falling down, 9 everybody was on the -- on the auditors' listserv saying that 10 they were having the same problems. So, you know, it's just 11 like the State's providing a lot of these services now to 12 people online, and so they're bypassing it. The big crystal 13 ball I do have for 2016 is the loss of the revenue to -- to 14 Leonard from the license plates. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: How much is that loss? 16 MS. HARGIS: 350,000 to 365,000. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How so? 18 MS. HARGIS: When I first came here, I believe it 19 was in 2005, the State changed the way they paid us for 20 providing tags. They used to pay us so much per tag -- is 21 that correct? And then they went to a commission basis, and 22 what they did is they gave us this commission over ten years, 23 and they reduced it every year until the tenth year; we were 24 supposed to wean ourselves off of it. And so it won't go 25 away until 2016. This next year is our last year. 7-28-14 bwk 21 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's what we approved this 2 morning? 3 MS. HARGIS: No. No. That -- that one we've 4 already had in place. That one is a good one. This is an 5 additional one. This was just -- was it $5 per plate? 6 MS. BOLIN: It was based on the sales tax on the 7 vehicles, and we got a portion of that, and then they flipped 8 it to where we would not get that any longer. 9 MS. HARGIS: So -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Whatever. 11 MS. HARGIS: So they're -- you know, they are -- 12 that was one of the things that my predecessor told me to be 13 aware of. And we kind of have been talking about it for the 14 last couple of years. I've been trying to make y'all aware. 15 That's the one big thing in Road and Bridge. We just added 16 $100,000 in capital to Rusty's budget for 2016. So, you 17 know, hopefully we'll continue to grow and our tax values 18 will, you know, go up and we'll be fine. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Will that -- that $10 fee 20 that we approved this morning that we've been doing since 21 Noah's Ark, can that be -- is $10 the max? 22 MS. BOLIN: Yes. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. Can I ask you a 24 couple more questions about that? 25 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 7-28-14 bwk 22 1 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You cut 17,400 out of the 2 jury fund. How do you do that? 3 MS. HARGIS: She had money in there for food and 4 stuff that she -- that they haven't used. And they also need 5 to get their reimbursement from the State, which they had not 6 asked for. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. So, we're not going 8 to have as many juries, not going to feed people any more? 9 MS. HARGIS: Well, we had increased it over what 10 we've -- 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We had too much in there? 12 Well, I'll let them fight with you about that. And then the 13 next one, 216th District Court, 11,000. How do you reduce 14 that? 15 MS. HARGIS: Food. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that food carts and 17 things like that? I'm kidding. I'm kidding about that. 18 MS. HARGIS: We went down just a little bit on the 19 Court-appointed attorneys. 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh. 21 MS. HARGIS: Not much. 22 MS. HENDERSON: They're really being careful on the 23 Court-appointed attorneys, with the help of Rosa, and -- 24 MS. HARGIS: We've been doing -- we're really doing 25 well on that. Now, it may get -- I don't know if it's under 7-28-14 bwk 23 1 this Michael Morton Act. You know, the 216th we were able 2 to go down on more than the 198th. I just hope that, 3 legislatively, they do something to clean that legislation up 4 a little bit. But -- 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're going to pass a 6 resolution that we don't like Martin Murphy or Michael Murphy 7 or whoever it is. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Michael Morton. 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We like the guitar player. 10 All right. $16,570 from the County Auditor's office. How'd 11 you do that? 12 MS. HARGIS: I took it out of my salary line item. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Out of your salary? 14 MS. HARGIS: Not out of my salary, because I'm not 15 going to be here very long. But I took it out of that salary 16 line item, 'cause I'm assuming that they won't start that 17 person as high as me. 'Cause I'm only going to be here about 18 six months. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's an admirable thing to 20 do, I guess. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. It's not hers, but it's 22 logical. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'm assuming you're correct, 24 but I don't know that that's -- okay. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And you -- haven't you 7-28-14 bwk 24 1 talked -- 2 MS. HARGIS: And I also took some out of my travel, 3 my personal -- my travel line item, and we'd already taken 4 some out of my other travel line item. So, I went through 5 and tweaked mine as much as I could. And if I'm going to ask 6 anybody else to do it, I have to do it myself. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We need to be careful to the 8 point to where, when a new person comes in, there's still 9 stuff there for them to be certified -- 10 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- by the State. 12 MS. HARGIS: Yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Okay. 14 MS. HARGIS: I did. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: In the -- are you through? In 16 the previous summary, you had money in there for the library; 17 it was down below. That's out? 18 MS. HARGIS: No money in for the library. I've 19 never had money in for the library. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, you showed it one time 21 in one of the summaries. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The Law Library? 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 24 MS. HARGIS: I showed -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I was going to ask you about 7-28-14 bwk 25 1 the Law Library. 2 MS. HARGIS: The public library is Line 3, Fund 19, 3 and there's nothing in there. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, 19. Okay. But that's 5 the thing I was saying today, that I'd like to have $65,000 6 in there for that. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I do. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I like my option. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, your option is not -- 11 yours is an option that's not going to get achieved. Mine's 12 a stepping stone option to move in that direction and resolve 13 and have a -- have a fair share, the term do you not like. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, there's no sense in us 15 sitting here talking about it all day. Try to get it put in. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 17 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Good luck. I mean -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we make a motion here? How 19 do we do that? 20 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's a workshop; we can't. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's a workshop, that's right. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: See? I told you you should 23 have talked about it earlier. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let me be on record. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Does it get it -- 7-28-14 bwk 26 1 MS. HARGIS: No, the Court -- you'd have to do a 2 straw poll. You maybe can't vote, but you got to vote to put 3 this in. Either it's a yes or a no, and I've got to have all 4 five of you. 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't think we need to up 6 or down it yet. Let's see how his options pan out. You got 7 an option on the table. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And then we come around. 10 Just saying yes or no on any of this, we don't know what any 11 of the options are going to do, so -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Letz'? 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: -- let's not beat our heads 14 against the wall. Let's see what kind of progress we can 15 make. May not be any. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What is the procedure, then, 17 for looking at Letz' option, previously Option 2? What's the 18 procedure for seeing if that can -- if we can reach an accord 19 on that within the budget cycle? 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I don't have my paper. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Option 2 is that we pay -- 22 split up Environmental Health and we pay 200,000 to the 23 library. Option 1 was like -- 24 JUDGE POLLARD: If his is -- his is opted and it 25 turns out like he projects it, then it's just a matter of 7-28-14 bwk 27 1 moving some money around. It doesn't increase -- 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's right, if it's -- if 3 it's approved, but that's assuming that's going to be 4 approved. I don't think that that's going to be approved, 5 because I don't think the City's going to go along with that. 6 So -- 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, then -- 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Here's my only question, is 9 how do we see if Option 2 is viable, okay? And discussions 10 with the City consistent with the schedule that we have to 11 develop the budget? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think we send over Option 1 13 and Option 2, and they pick. It's their choice. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Or they may not choose either 15 one. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Then we -- 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Then we're back to my 18 proposal. Let's open the door. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, then my option is that we 20 reduce Environmental Services Department drastically, and 21 they do their own animal control, environmental services, and 22 septic. 23 MS. HARGIS: I agree with that. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Then we say something for the 25 library? 7-28-14 bwk 28 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, we can. But, I mean, 2 they're -- I don't see that they're tied, to me. I mean, we 3 have been paying -- we're not legally obligated to do 4 anything except rabies control. Same as if they're not 5 willing to give the county residents free access to that 6 library for us to do that, well, then we won't do the service 7 any more. It's very simple. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm not arguing that aspect of 9 it. I'm just saying -- I'm talking about the timing of how 10 we get that -- get an answer so that we can finalize the 11 budget. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in -- 13 JUDGE POLLARD: You know, the mayor's position is 14 they won't pay. And he's got us in a situation where we're 15 bidding against ourselves. He keeps saying no, we're bidding 16 against ourselves, and I don't bid against myself. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So what are you saying? 18 JUDGE POLLARD: I'm saying let's just play this 19 out, see how it works out. We'll do a quick step if we have 20 to, but right now -- 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Let's send something over to 22 the City and say, "This is what we propose." 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Fine with me. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: They can pick. Say it's their 7-28-14 bwk 29 1 choice. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Let's play the hand, see what 3 happens. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. All right. All right. 5 MS. HARGIS: Next? 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that going to happen 7 today? 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No, we'll just send a letter. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, we can't decide anything in 10 this session. We got to come into open session to do that 11 sometime. We can't do it today. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We can send a letter, can't 13 we? 14 JUDGE POLLARD: No. No. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a decision. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: It's a decision; it's got to be 17 done in Commissioners Court. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Might be -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We can go back in 20 Commissioners Court session, though. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And do that agenda item. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And do that agenda item. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 24 MS. HARGIS: Could I ask -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's a good point. 7-28-14 bwk 30 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't like a lot of the 2 options. I mean, I don't want -- I hate to put the salary 3 increase on the table, but also, I'm very concerned about 4 cutting Road and Bridge's capital outlay completely, and the 5 Sheriff's capital outlay basically completely. You know, we 6 have to provide cars for the Sheriff's Department. We have 7 to provide equipment for Road and Bridge. I agree that Road 8 and Bridge doesn't need all of it. I'm looking at Leonard 9 and Charlie. I mean, at what point do you have to start 10 buying new equipment? 11 MR. ODOM: Now. 12 MS. HARGIS: Well, we put -- 13 MR. ODOM: I'm serious. 14 MS. HARGIS: We put an option in for him. He's 15 still going to buy $250,000 worth of capital. We're just 16 going to lease it over three years, and that amount of money 17 is in his budget. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But that is leasing it. Is 19 that -- does that take care of your 654,000 you took out? 20 MR. ODOM: Well, the 650 I was told to put in my 21 wish list. I'm giving you my need list. I said before, 22 there's a difference between needs and wants. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 24 MR. ODOM: And I was told to put in -- 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Your "have to have" and "don't have 7-28-14 bwk 31 1 to have" is a little bit better way to say it. 2 MR. ODOM: What I gave for a quarter of a million 3 is what I felt like we needed to make the thing work. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: You did, thank you. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So you're okay for the next 6 three years with the lease option on some of the equipment? 7 MR. ODOM: I believe so. We can live with it. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Good. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where's the Sheriff with cars? 10 MS. HARGIS: Sheriff has his cars. These cars that 11 we cut out of here were for the four Sheriff's Department -- 12 the new ones. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: The four new ones? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: He's okay with that. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: And he is okay with that. I talked 18 to him, and I talked to Road and Bridge. 19 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, he still has money in the 20 account. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. The -- then my last one 22 is, I'm a little nervous, looking kind of like Buster was 23 with maintenance. We're cutting utilities. And, granted, we 24 don't have a new building. If we have to build any 25 construction in the interim -- 7-28-14 bwk 32 1 MS. HARGIS: No, I didn't cut his utilities. I 2 have them at 90,000. We're at 60,000 this year, and they're 3 at 90 for next year. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So you went from 100 back to 5 90, but you're still up? 6 MS. HARGIS: I'm still -- no, I couldn't do that, 7 because we're going to hit 66. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And the maintenance, we've cut 9 from what was proposed at 40 to 30. What's the anticipated 10 maintenance for this year? 11 MS. HARGIS: On 510, some of them you had already 12 cut. The big item was the capital outlay, and I think that 13 was -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. That doesn't -- 15 MS. HARGIS: That was the carpet and stuff here. 16 The other stuff are small. They're little, small -- 500, 17 1,000, 500. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The building and grounds 19 maintenance went from 40,000 to 30,000. 666-450. 20 MS. HARGIS: I'm not under 666. That's out at the 21 Ag Barn. 22 MR. BOLLIER: Ag Barn, you got to be in 510, 23 Jonathan. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm looking at the Ag Barn. 25 I'm looking at 666. 7-28-14 bwk 33 1 MS. HARGIS: You just want the Ag Barn? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We're adding the new building. 3 Where are we at in 666? 4 MS. HARGIS: Hang on just a second. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 450 this year is my question. 6 MR. ROBLES: 30,000. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 30,000. So we're leaving that 8 flat. 9 MR. BOLLIER: Actually, that's what I had going 10 into this year, with the -- with the show barn and the old 11 building. Now then -- 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That should be okay. 13 MR. BOLLIER: We should be okay. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Shouldn't have any maintenance 15 in the new building. 16 MR. BOLLIER: We should be okay for 30,000. Now, 17 in a couple years, we may have to go up a little bit or 18 something, but I think it will be all right. 19 MS. HARGIS: I think he's all right in 666. And I 20 think he had some kind of a sweeper machine or something in 21 there, which -- 22 MR. BOLLIER: No, we had a lift in there, a 40-foot 23 lift, remember? 24 MS. HARGIS: And we can rent that. 25 MR. BOLLIER: We can rent that. There wasn't no 7-28-14 bwk 34 1 sense in buying a 40-foot lift you're only going to use once 2 or twice a year. I mean -- 3 MS. HARGIS: So, most things we took out were -- 4 were practical. They weren't -- like I said, we tried not to 5 take out anything that we knew people would -- like 6 utilities. I -- I mean, if we're showing 66,000 right now 7 and I didn't put 90, I'm not going to make it for next year, 8 even with three months being down. 'Cause they're going to 9 -- they're actually using power out there now off of us. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 11 MS. HARGIS: Building the building. 12 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So, just the overall cuts, 13 with each department head, do they have anything -- any 14 argument as to why they shouldn't be cut? Kind of like they 15 said, speak now. 16 MR. GARCIA: I don't have an argument; I'd just 17 like to make a statement. When I did do the cuts, I went 18 over it with Jeannie, and we did -- we made the best possible 19 cuts we could. But, again, I just want to emphasize the fact 20 that you guys already have the number. You've seen the 21 service that we provide in the city. We got as lean as we 22 could out there on that, even cutting the utilities. We did 23 some changes and improvements out there that our own county 24 staff did to better that place. Again, we're putting in our 25 own time and our own money and our own resources, using our 7-28-14 bwk 35 1 own people to do these things. It's just a comment, again, 2 just to let the Court know what our county employees are 3 doing out there to try to make this budget work and try to be 4 as lean as possible, but still provide that level of service 5 that we're providing now. So -- 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Well, I wanted to say that 7 after the last workshop we had, and I'd made the comment for 8 each department to try to cut. I know Ray and Tim both, they 9 sat down and they whittled it pretty good, and I want to 10 compliment them for doing that. Other departments also, I 11 know, looked at it. They may not have come to me, but it 12 looks like they whittled where they could. And, I mean, 13 y'all are the ones that need to live with this, so, you know, 14 if you have a problem or something, we may not can give it to 15 you, but I'd sure like to hear it. 16 MR. BOLLIER: I would just -- the only thing is 17 down here in this capital money in 666, I thought we had left 18 $9,000 in that capital money for a new riding lawnmower, 19 because I had -- 20 MR. ROBLES: It's in there. 21 MR. BOLLIER: I said before that the one that I had 22 bought eight years ago was on the blink, you know. Just -- I 23 don't know if that is still there. 24 MR. ROBLES: It's right here for you for a new 25 mower. 7-28-14 bwk 36 1 MS. HARGIS: It's still in there? 2 MR. BOLLIER: Okay. Still in there? Okay. I'm 3 good, then. That's basically all I need. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: After that last budget session we 5 had, it was pretty clear that we had a pretty lean year 6 coming up, and that the revenues were not going to be there 7 and that we were going to have to cut. And there was some 8 discussion about doing a letter -- drafting a letter for me 9 to sign to send to all the department heads, asking them to 10 take a hard look at it and cut as much as they could, because 11 it was a -- we were all going to have to cut, so -- and just 12 weren't going to have any choice. I didn't ever get time to 13 get that letter out. Within two days, everybody came 14 forward. I was over in your office when Leonard came in over 15 there at the time and we discussed it at that time. And 16 there was no crying or bawling about it. This is what we got 17 to do, and everybody stepped up. I'm so proud of everybody. 18 I really am. Thank you so much. I didn't -- I didn't have 19 to send that letter out. We're all on the same team. We're 20 trying -- and we did it so we could save the cost-of-living. 21 By golly, I'm real proud of you. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: One other question, if I may, 23 and it's probably just 'cause I've forgotten it. On the Law 24 Library, what did it go from last year to this year? And I 25 forgot the reason, because Rob took it over. 7-28-14 bwk 37 1 MS. HARGIS: I budgeted -- he budgeted the whole 2 amount of money last year, and nothing was spent. It looks 3 like we spent about 67,000, 68,000. That's what we've got in 4 here. We went back and looked at all the books that 5 everybody's buying, that we have to have, and the services, 6 and how often we have all those services. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 8 MS. HARGIS: You know, they -- the Nexis-Lexis. 9 MS. STEBBINS: The Westlaw. They're very 10 expensive. 11 MS. HARGIS: They are very expensive. They went up 12 two years ago, actually. And even though we only have, you 13 know, one or two subscriptions, we have other subscriptions 14 in the building that the other clerks have to have, so -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 16 MS. HARGIS: -- all of that goes to the library, 17 because it's accessible by anybody who wants to go in and see 18 them. But we have to have those. You either do that or you 19 buy the books. And the Judge and I can both tell you, I 20 stopped buying the accounting books and just did online. He 21 stopped paying for the law books. It's just too expensive, 22 and you don't have room for all of that. Just don't have 23 room. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7-28-14 bwk 38 1 JUDGE POLLARD: There's some paperback bench books 2 that the judges have to have, and Judge Tinley had quite a 3 few of those, but almost all of them were out-of-date, and 4 I'm going through as I need one. If I have to have it, I'm 5 ordering a paperback, but I'm not going through and ordering 6 a whole set or any of that kind of stuff. I'm just picking 7 the ones that I got to have. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. All right, thank you. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Bottom line, you've told us 10 percentages. Bottom line, how much are we short right now? 11 MS. HARGIS: It's 285,000 and some change. I think 12 it's 285,900. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Anticipated income for this 14 year versus projected expenses, so we'd have to take 300,000 15 out of reserves is what you're saying. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But our reserves are at a 17 point -- 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That we can do it. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We should do that. 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Right. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 22 MS. HARGIS: Yeah. The 25 percent, I would love to 23 have more than that, after this little scare, but I think 24 that's really all the Comptroller recommends. I think you -- 25 you can actually get more surplus, and then the taxpayers 7-28-14 bwk 39 1 want to know why we're putting so much money back. And I -- 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think three months is 3 adequate. 4 MS. HARGIS: So I think this is a good rule of 5 thumb. It's attainable, and it would take care of a disaster 6 or a murder trial, which we might have. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Which is a disaster. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And your property tax 10 estimate is -- 11 MS. HARGIS: 200,000 less than what they gave me on 12 the preliminary roll. So, if it comes in better, then we can 13 open back up the doors and give people back some of the 14 things, so you'll keep that in mind. Things that you think 15 you might need, you know, I'm extremely open. If we get -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We'll know that Friday. 17 MS. HARGIS: If some of the people want to come 18 back and ask for those, then I'd open it up to the Court to 19 hear it, 'cause I think everybody who asked for them truly 20 needs them. It's just unfortunate that when we talk about a 21 single employee, that's the equivalent of $65,000, even for 22 the lowest paid person, so -- by the time we pay benefits and 23 group insurance, so it's -- it's expensive. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We'll be able to do like the 25 Judge said, give a very slight salary increase and keep our 7-28-14 bwk 40 1 benefits package the same. 2 MS. HARGIS: I think we're very fortunate. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: That's what keeps our employees -- 4 takes care of the employees. 5 MS. HARGIS: In the crystal ball next year, I would 6 think that would be one of the things that you're going to 7 have to deal with as well, is the insurance. If we continue 8 to have a bad year, the rate could go up more than -- you're 9 going to have to, you know, identify a little bit of extra 10 money in that line item to take up the gap for this year. 11 And we only needed 27,000, but next year it will be more than 12 that. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The actual increase is more 14 than 27,000, but you -- based on how you'd already 15 calculated. 16 MS. HARGIS: Right. The actual increase is about 17 175,000. So, those are the things that, you know, I -- we 18 don't ever know. I mean, we could have a good year; we could 19 have a bad year. Our year ends in September. I don't ever 20 know that because of the HIPAA rules and laws. I mean, and 21 we can't predict what the pool's going to have. You know, 22 it's not just us; it's what's the pool has as well. And we 23 were due for a bad year, because in 2009 we had the bad year, 24 and about every five years you have one, and this is it, 25 2014. So, about every five years. You know, with the 7-28-14 bwk 41 1 population that we have, that's just -- 2 JUDGE POLLARD: I hope it's the worst one. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Hope it's a flood. 4 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I hope we don't. I hope 5 everybody stays well. And I know Dawn is really working hard 6 to make us walk, run, and eat right. So -- 7 MS. LANTZ: That's why you have to do Healthy 8 County. 9 MS. HARGIS: So, listen to her little things. If 10 all the employees would do it, I can tell you -- 11 JUDGE POLLARD: Lost cause here. (Laughter.) 12 MS. HARGIS: Well, I thought I was going to have to 13 go on blood pressure medicine, and she got me involved in 14 that program last year, and now my blood pressure is back. 15 It's too low. So, I mean, you go from one place to the 16 other, but -- 17 JUDGE POLLARD: We -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We can make your blood 19 pressure go up. 20 MS. HARGIS: Yeah, standing right here. I keep 21 thinking about six months from now. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: You didn't hear. Harry 23 called. You didn't get the message; you're not leaving. 24 MS. HARGIS: The stress level -- I have two 25 grandkids in my office; my husband's selling a car, running 7-28-14 bwk 42 1 around in the courthouse, and I'm having a budget hearing, so 2 that's enough. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 4 MS. HARGIS: So if we get more money, we will know 5 that. And I will try to get these to you as soon as I can, 6 and then we'll know whether we can -- I would suggest another 7 workshop. The Judge is going to go ahead and file this, and 8 the reason why I've asked him to file it is so that we meet 9 the timing deadline. It doesn't mean that this is cut in 10 stone; it just means we've filed it so the public can look at 11 what we've done. 12 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is there a deadline? 13 MS. HARGIS: It's supposed to be 30 days -- within 14 30 days before you actually -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I would think that as far as 16 this board of directors is concerned, that once the Judge 17 files his budget down there, then -- then we're free to rock 18 and roll on what we think is necessary. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's true. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Why do I feel like I got a target 21 on my back? 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: It's your budget. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: I know. You've been emphasizing 24 that the last few days. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I'm just telling you 7-28-14 bwk 43 1 what the law says. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: You keep telling me, "That's your 3 budget." 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what the law says. 5 He's exactly right. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: It's okay, I can handle it. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So then we'll start having 8 some of these if we want to. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, if we get more money in, 10 there are things that we -- you know, there's some things 11 that were cut that, no question, should be considered. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, the Commissioners will 13 add the money back if you took it all away. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: I got -- 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We're the good guys in this 16 gig. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good cop, bad cop. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Cut that son of a gun. 19 MS. HARGIS: I'd rather be the good cop instead of 20 the bad cop. The rocks are hard. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: You forget, I've been 47 years 22 being the bad cop; it doesn't bother me. 23 MS. HARGIS: Is there any other questions? 24 MS. LANTZ: Jeannie, timeline? 25 MS. HARGIS: Timeline for the budget? They were 7-28-14 bwk 44 1 discussing with me the publication of the elected officials' 2 salaries. I would suggest we go ahead and put that in the 3 paper now as a preliminary. And, remember, we've done it 4 before, and that way we meet those deadlines in case some of 5 the other offices -- remember, we had that little problem 6 last year with -- in Rusty's area, so we want to go ahead and 7 get those published. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's with the two and a 9 half percent salary increase? 10 MS. HARGIS: Yes, right. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And what if we come back 12 later and cut that to two? 13 MS. HARGIS: You can cut it. You just can't go 14 over it. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Right, okay. So it doesn't 16 matter what you publish? 17 MS. HARGIS: Hmm-mm. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: I got a letter from Austin telling 19 me how many hours I got to get in special training as a new 20 County Judge. It's 38 and a half hours. I'm going into some 21 here in a week or two, and for the next month or six weeks or 22 so, I'm going to be kind of scarce around here going to all 23 this stuff. And so we're -- Jeannie and I have made some 24 arrangements for me to get this thing filed, to meet as soon 25 as possible, get into that 30-day deadline. And I'm going to 7-28-14 bwk 45 1 sign a letter before I go and hand it to her, and when she 2 gets the budget -- gets that roll from Fourth, why, then 3 she's going to attach it to it and file this budget, even in 4 my absence. So, we're going to -- I'm not going to let my 5 being gone slow it down. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: We could have meetings at 8 night if that would help you. I'm kidding. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: That's about all I got left. 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: 11:30. 11 MS. HARGIS: We appreciate it. Thank you very 12 much. Thanks to all the department heads. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Thanks, everybody. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Do we need to go back into 15 session and say we're going to send a letter to the -- 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: City. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: -- City? 18 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. We got to go back and 19 amend this morning's session on that item. What item was 20 that line item? Somebody still got that agenda? I chunked 21 mine already. 22 MS. PIEPER: I have the agenda. 23 (Discussion off the record.) 24 (Budget workshop was adjourned at 2:20 p.m.) 25 - - - - - - - - - - 7-28-14 bwk 46 1 STATE OF TEXAS | 2 COUNTY OF KERR | 3 The above and foregoing is a true and complete 4 transcription of my stenotype notes taken in my capacity as 5 official reporter for the Commissioners Court of Kerr County, 6 Texas, at the time and place heretofore set forth. 7 DATED at Kerrville, Texas, this 5th day of August, 2014. 8 9 10 JANNETT PIEPER, Kerr County Clerk 11 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 12 Certified Shorthand Reporter 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 7-28-14 bwk