1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 KERR COUNTY COMMISSIONERS COURT 9 Budget Workshop 10 Monday, July 6, 2015 11 10:35 a.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 6, 2015 2 PAGE 3 Participate in budget workshops with county departments, including, but not limited to: 4 Sheriff's Department personnel request 3 5 Moving 14's to 15's in Tax Assessor/Collector's 6 office 35 7 County Attorney 37 Hot Check funds 39 8 All departments - personnel requests 40 9 Adjourned 63 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 3 1 On Monday, July 6, 2015, at 10:35 a.m., a budget 2 workshop of the Kerr County Commissioners Court was held in 3 the Commissioners' Courtroom, Kerr County Courthouse, 4 Kerrville, Texas, and the following proceedings were had in 5 open court: 6 P R O C E E D I N G S 7 JUDGE POLLARD: The Sheriff was interested in going 8 first to try to get him out of here. 9 MS. STEBBINS: What happened to ladies first, 10 Rusty? (Laughter.) 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Not attorneys. 12 MS. STEBBINS: Wait a minute. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, but it's ladies first 14 or get rid of the Sheriff. 15 MS. STEBBINS: That's true. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's attorneys that cause all 17 the problems, even for me. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that Sheriff -- how do 19 you spell that? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Sherf. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't guess I have one. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: It's way back in the back. 23 It's a white one. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's constable. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right ahead of Roads and 7-6-15 bwk 4 1 Bridges. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Oh, Sheriff. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Let me just declare 4 that this is a special workshop session of the Kerr County 5 Commissioners Court, which is commencing at 10:35 a.m. on 6 July 6th, 2015, and it's to participate in budget workshops 7 with county departments including, but not limited to, County 8 Attorney, Hot Check fund, secondary look at all departments 9 as needed, step and grade and position schedule and 10 additional personnel. And the Sheriff, I guess, is up. So, 11 you've got the floor, sir. Anybody have any questions of him 12 about any of it? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think the main question was 14 if this is personnel, is the -- adding two things. One would 15 be the four additional deputies, and two would be the 16 emergency management coordinator. I think those were things 17 y'all wanted to bring back up and discuss. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: And fire marshal. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Slash-fire marshal, one or the 20 other. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: As far as your additional 22 deputies on the street, what -- what are we looking at, total 23 dollars, Rusty? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If there were four, okay, 25 additional deputies -- and we chose a 21.5/3. That would be 7-6-15 bwk 5 1 about an advanced certificate. It's not -- you know, it's 2 kind of in between on the educational, because if they start 3 with a basic, they start at one. If they start their 4 intermediate, it's a two. Advanced is a three, and a master 5 is a five, okay? So we chose three just to be in the middle, 6 and that's on the high side. Four additional deputies, 7 that's an annual salary of 45,781 for one, and it's 183,124 8 for four. And when you add the dental, medical, retirement, 9 Medicare, and FICA, it comes to approximately 247,691 if you 10 were to do all four. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sheriff, is this part of you 12 getting ready for the jail expansion, or is this -- 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, it can be. We did 14 visit, and when we -- when we gave the jail expansion talks, 15 we talked about once it's complete, 10 additional jailers, 16 okay, as far as maintenance, and four deputies. That's kind 17 of this part, too. We're just, you know, running 1,100 18 square miles with a total of five if you're lucky, and then 19 an additional -- with the court and the jail and everything 20 else, you've got to have it by then. I still need the 21 officers now. I don't know if this Court wants to try and 22 actually start weaving some in between now and then. You 23 know, four would add one per shift, which would get us up to 24 normally five on a shift, okay. You have -- 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So I guess my -- my question 7-6-15 bwk 6 1 is, I guess, based on budget impact. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Part of the promotion, 4 explanation, whatever you want to call it, for the new jail 5 was, obviously, there was a tax increase related to the cost 6 of the -- the capital cost. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right, the bond. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There's also a cost that was 9 even higher for the maintenance and operations cost. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, there was. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And this is part of that 12 maintenance and operation that the voters were pretty much -- 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They were told about what 14 it -- what we talked about was in '15, there would be -- 15 there would not be a tax increase right now, because that's 16 this current year. And in 2016, it's the one and 17 three-fourths cent on the -- for the bond issue for the 18 capital cost. And then we talked about in 2018, a 2.92-cent, 19 okay, which would cover the 10 additional deputies, the 20 dispatch -- 10 additional jailers, dispatcher, and four 21 deputies. Now, that tax increase, that two -- .0292, I've 22 been told by tax people that that's going to push this county 23 close to your rollback. I don't know what that is. And so 24 the Judge had talked about -- and I think even most of the 25 Commissioners, what if we start trying to phase some of that 7-6-15 bwk 7 1 in to keep that from being an all-at-once burden in '18? And 2 that's what -- so that's why we refigured this with the four 3 deputies. I definitely don't need the 10 jailers yet, or any 4 of them, not until we've started construction. But the 5 deputies and the dispatchers are something we could start 6 trying to phase in, because there is a definite need for them 7 now, plus there will have to be once construction starts. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So that's what that is over, 10 okay? There is one other issue with personnel that I think 11 this County -- we need to look at. With the way it is right 12 now, a lot of times -- like, I had a sergeant out with a back 13 injury that he had to get taken care of, and he was out a 14 month, so then somebody else is just kind of having to 15 fulfill the duties of that patrol sergeant. We don't have 16 corporals or anything in between, so those people are not 17 getting anything additional when they have to step in any 18 time a sergeant's on vacation or anything else. They're 19 fulfilling the sergeant's duties on patrol without any type 20 of compensation. So, I did look at that, and if you do -- 21 and it's the same way in the jail. I have the same issues 22 with no corporals. You're either a sergeant or you're a 23 straight jailer. 24 On deputies, if we put in -- sergeants are a -- 25 well, a starting deputy is a 21.5/1, and sergeants are 25's. 7-6-15 bwk 8 1 And if you went in between at about a 23.1 for a corporal, 2 for four, which would take care of each shift, it would add 3 13,395 to my budget for deputies to be able to create a 4 corporal position. And in the jail, it would add 7,568 to be 5 able to create corporal positions. All you're doing is 6 moving one up, because when the sergeant or them are gone, 7 that person is stuck with all the responsibilities, plus 8 they're still doing some during that time, so it's kind of a 9 restructuring. So, I would like the Court to look at those 10 two issues also. If we could start out getting one or two 11 deputies this year and creating those positions, and then 12 maybe next year looking at the other ones, it's just how this 13 Court wants to do the budgeting. It's coming, and we just 14 need to be prepared for it. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Sheriff, on the -- well, two 16 other items. One, you mentioned the emergency 17 coordinator/fire marshal. 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's a whole separate 19 personnel issue. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. Where -- what is your 21 feeling on -- currently, we have one plan with the city. 22 COMMISSIONER MOSER: One for the county. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And there's one -- 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One for the county overall, and 7-6-15 bwk 9 1 is -- and we haven't talked about it in court for a while. 2 Is that going to work, or is that going to not work? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's not going to work. 4 Unfortunately, we've had -- the way the emergency management 5 coordinator plan was set up, Kerr County, City of Kerrville, 6 and Ingram, all have one joint plan, which is great, okay? 7 And back in the early '80's and that when it was set up, the 8 City of Kerrville had the authority, and the way it was set 9 up is they appointed and they hired the emergency management 10 coordinator, and Kerr County hired the assistant emergency 11 management coordinator, okay? And that's the way it was 12 designed. Kerr County failed somehow through all the changes 13 over the years; we didn't hire other than the first time, and 14 I think Billy Joe Guthrie at that time was the assistant. 15 But we didn't refill that all those years, but that's the way 16 it's designed, okay? So, in looking at it, since the City 17 had a lot of changes and they changed all those positions 18 with the retirement of the fire chief -- former one, and Mark 19 Beavers, we had meetings and looked at it, and wanted to get 20 it back to the way it was designed. We would appoint the 21 assistant emergency management coordinator and the City of 22 Kerrville has the Emergency Coordinator himself. And through 23 those meetings, unfortunately, the mayor has the stance that 24 if we appoint the assistant, that assistant has to be a city 25 employee, period. He does not believe that the assistant 7-6-15 bwk 10 1 should be any county employee or hired by the County; it 2 should be a city employee. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So the City wants to basically 4 change that agreement. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They want to take total 6 command of it all, and I just do not feel that is what's 7 appropriate for our volunteer fire departments. I do not 8 feel it's appropriate for us. They have a coordinator now, 9 Tony Lenard. He's fabulous. He's a great coordinator. We 10 work with him well. We loaned him our trailer and everything 11 for the 4th of July. But when it comes to it, okay, the 12 assistant should be a county employee that is appointed, that 13 those two work together. But with the current administration 14 over there, he has said that's not going to happen. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Can you -- and you mentioned 16 the mayor. Let me add to that, because I think the Sheriff 17 and I have been working with the Judge; we've had several 18 meetings with the City, November, December, January, okay. 19 We haven't met since then. And Rusty -- what he's saying is 20 exactly correct. There was an agreement, okay, in the 21 December meeting that Rusty suggested what it would be. We 22 would -- we would identify an emergency management 23 coordinator and he would be the assistant. And the thing 24 that's important to that is the current emergency management 25 plan and responsibilities, duties, and who's going to be 7-6-15 bwk 11 1 responsible to execute those duties, it's -- it's all city 2 employees, from the librarian to whatever, okay. She's -- 3 librarian's in charge of human resources. 4 We identified all of the assets -- or a lot of 5 assets in the county that can be brought to bear for this -- 6 for the emergency management plan; constables, sheriffs, 7 volunteer fire departments, justices of the peace, 8 constables, on and on, okay? And we said, "Let's do that so 9 that we can make sure all the resources of the county come 10 together into a county-wide emergency management plan." I 11 personally still think we need a county-wide emergency 12 management plan to make sure that we have all the resources 13 that we have, that the City of Ingram has, the City of 14 Kerrville has. So -- so the way we discussed it was, 15 let's -- the County -- we, the County, should have an 16 emergency management coordinator, and work with the City's 17 emergency management coordinator, Tony Lenard, who, I agree 18 with the Sheriff, is doing a very good job, okay. Doing a 19 very good job. 20 So, we haven't -- that issue is still on the table. 21 And hopefully -- the hope is once we establish the emergency 22 management coordinator position, he will work with the City 23 of Kerrville's emergency management coordinator to fix the 24 plan. The plan has a lot of deficiencies in it, and it needs 25 to be fixed. And -- and the reason it's so important from 7-6-15 bwk 12 1 the county perspective, if we have an emergency, it's 2 probably going to happen in the county, 'cause it's probably 3 going to be a fire or a flood or something like that. The 4 small area for the city is probably not going to be the 5 focus, okay. So, we want to make sure that we've got all of 6 the county resources that can be brought to bear and help 7 lead that effort, and with the two county -- two 8 management -- emergency management coordinators working 9 together. So, the Sheriff is exactly right; let's go back to 10 where it was, what the plan is. The plan has got to be 11 updated by law by December of this year. It's got to be 12 completely updated, so there's a whole lot -- there's a lot 13 of different -- 26 annexes in the plan. Certain ones have 14 to -- they have to be updated and renewed, you know, on a 15 sequence, so it's not all at one time. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But the total -- the plan 17 signed by the Judge and by the two mayors has to be 18 approved -- let me finish, Rusty -- has to be updated and 19 revised. It has to be updated by the end of this year -- 20 calendar year. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I wish that we could go back 22 to the original agreement that was set up years ago, okay? 23 Instead of the -- and what the mayor has told me is that you 24 don't think of it as a person and position; you think of it 25 as a box. 7-6-15 bwk 13 1 JUDGE POLLARD: That's right. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And that box is -- they've got 3 a lieutenant with the Kerrville Fire Department as the 4 emergency management coordinator, so if he is out of pocket, 5 then the Fire Chief should be the one calling the shots. 6 Well, the thing is, this box is not a Kerrville Fire 7 Department box. It is an emergency management program for 8 all of Kerr County, okay? City of Kerrville -- and what we 9 had happening in the past, and I think Commissioner Reeves 10 can even tell you, is, unfortunately, four volunteer fire 11 departments got left out of a lot of training for emergency 12 management. It wasn't being done. And the emergency 13 management coordinator back then, the one acting at it, even 14 told my chief deputy when we had a large fire out in the 15 county that they don't come out in the county. If we need 16 anything, we could call them. Well, the emergency management 17 coordinator ought to come out in the county. You know, 18 they're not a -- they're not a crime scene -- or a commander 19 at the scene. They're coordinating, helping you get what you 20 need to handle that emergency. If it is out in the county, 21 then, of course, the County Judge technically is the one 22 calling the shots. If it's in the city of Kerrville, then 23 the Kerrville mayor is. If it's in the city of Ingram, then 24 the Ingram mayor is. The coordinator is the one working with 25 all those and keeping the plan, keeping -- there's a lot to 7-6-15 bwk 14 1 it, okay? But then I got told, "Well, you know, if we hired 2 this person, were they going to have a college education?" 3 They wanted to make sure they had a college education, that 4 they had all the training. And the problem is, Tony is a 5 fabulous emergency management coordinator, but he's just now 6 getting the training. He doesn't have the college either, 7 but they were trying to require us to for an assistant, and 8 it just was falling apart, unfortunately. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess -- 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let me -- let me ask a 11 couple of questions here right quick. The mayor's box, is 12 that a cardboard box? Is the emergency management line item 13 in this budget that we're -- 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It is not. It's something 15 we're going to bring in. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I don't know why we're doing 17 this. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Because it's going to be -- 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If it were -- you know, 20 personally, I think the emergency management coordinator will 21 answer to the Judge, not to me. But due to needing a 22 department and not putting somebody directly under the Court, 23 I agree that they could put them under me, and we have the 24 office space, but they still answer to the Judge. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So we need to decide whether 7-6-15 bwk 15 1 we are going to have one. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Right. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Period. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And if the answer is yes, 6 then we select one, and I couldn't care less what they say 7 over across the street. 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: What happens then is, it's not 9 a joint emergency management system any more. If y'all 10 decide to have one, Kerr County will have its own emergency 11 management system. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't agree with that. 13 Don't say that. Factually -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How do you -- how'd you 15 arrive at that? 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's what I want to know. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Because we won't be a joint 18 one with the City any more. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Because they won't let us 20 play? 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You can't have -- that's 22 right. You can't have two emergency management -- 23 JUDGE POLLARD: It takes two to dance. 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay? We -- 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Not unless it becomes the 7-6-15 bwk 16 1 assistant. And we're going to update the plan by the end of 2 the calendar year, okay. We've got a plan right now, okay. 3 And I -- my personal -- the way I would like to see it, okay, 4 and we can disagree, is that we have one plan for the three 5 entities; County, City of Kerrville, City of Ingram. And if 6 we have an emergency management coordinator, it can be in the 7 city, okay, but the assistant has got to be from the county 8 here. But they will not -- the mayor has said -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The mayor does not run the City 10 Council. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: He doesn't get to decide that. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Then I need somebody to get it 13 to City Council, or otherwise it will not happen. Judge 14 Pollard and I have sat in these meetings. He has said no, we 15 will not be able to put -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: He doesn't have the authority. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's your point. That's 18 the -- where I'm trying to go with this. I don't want the 19 County to pull out of the emergency management plan; I want 20 the City to do it. If they want to change the basic plan, 21 the City needs to do it, and we need to get it on their 22 agenda. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I agree. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I think the County Judge 25 can write a letter and say this is the format; this is the 7-6-15 bwk 17 1 current plan. We appoint the person, and it will be the 2 assistant. And if they want -- 3 JUDGE POLLARD: He will be in charge if the primary 4 one from the city is out of pocket. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: And so they're taking the position 7 they have a succession in the fire department. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The mayor is taking the 9 position. I have not heard anyone but the mayor say that. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: You're right. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think City Council -- the 12 mayor doesn't have the authority to speak for the City 13 Council. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And that is exactly what I 15 would suggest. If -- if we can keep a joint plan, it's by 16 far the best thing that could happen. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's what -- 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That needs to be on the 19 record. That is the best plan. 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But under this mayor, if he 21 has his way, we can't. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We don't care about it. We 23 need to do what the plan says. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And whether the fire guy has 25 a doctorate or not, that's our business. 7-6-15 bwk 18 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And I want to go back to -- 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Except -- 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: We met in November; we met in 4 December. The agreement between -- it was a -- there were 5 three people from each entity; the Sheriff, the Judge, 6 myself, and from the City there were three people, and from 7 the City of Ingram there was one person. The agreement then 8 was exactly what we're saying. City would have the emergency 9 management coordinator; the County would have the assistant, 10 okay. That's exactly the agreement, and then it changed. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, proposed under the -- 12 what the agreement is. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Proposed under the agreement. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: If we're going to do this, I 15 think we should give it a nod or something and put it in 16 here, and then let them know what we've done. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Precisely. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I agree. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And so what that means if we 20 can get it to work out that way, the County would still have 21 to create a position and make an emergency management -- an 22 assistant emergency management coordinator. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that's what -- 7-6-15 bwk 19 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And what do you foresee that 2 to cost? 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think, you know, I've looked 4 and seen a lot of them across the state ranging anywhere from 5 30,000 to 100,000, okay, in salary, with the duties. And if 6 y'all are going to tack on a county fire marshal -- I'm not a 7 county fire marshal, so I don't know those duties, but I 8 would recommend, just looking at it, if you're going to try, 9 and it fits in our step and grade along with law enforcement, 10 and the fire marshal's going to be a certified peace officer, 11 and how you're putting, you know, the officer into it, I 12 would say about what my starting sergeants make, which is 13 about a 21 -- I mean, a 25. 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Rusty, could that be -- the 15 fire marshal be one of your employees already? Rather than 16 be a dual -- 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't have the employees, 18 Buster. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Huh? 20 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't have the employees. I 21 don't have the staffing to have somebody do that. You know, 22 if fire -- because once you do fire marshal and emergency 23 management coordinator in one, and all the training and 24 keeping up with all the equipment that we already have, that 25 is a full-time position, okay? At times, yeah, I'd love to 7-6-15 bwk 20 1 be able to use him, but I think they're going to -- if you're 2 going to -- and my understanding is with the county fire 3 marshal, there's going to be a whole lot of duties that come 4 along with that that I have no idea about. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Hey, all you have to do is 6 say no to me; we're off and running, man. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: How much? 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Sergeants are a 25, so a 25 -- 10 it would probably be about a 25.3. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Would one of y'all that know 12 tell us? 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Okay, 25.6. All right, 14 halfway up the scale -- yeah, 25.6 is 58,593. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: That doesn't include the -- 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That doesn't include -- that's 17 salary. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: -- the package? 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I don't have all the FICA, 20 retirement and all that, no, sir. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: Probably about another 18,000, 22 20,000. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: A 25.4 is 55,764, which would 24 be about your -- let's see, if you had -- by the time you get 25 that type of person, basic. 7-6-15 bwk 21 1 JUDGE POLLARD: Another 15,000. That might be 2 close to 70,000. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Need at least a 3, 'cause 4 everybody in mine -- sergeants are required to be advanced. 5 So, it would be right at 55,000 for the salary, not counting 6 any -- 7 JUDGE POLLARD: What, plus another 30 percent? 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Roll-ups. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay, another 15,000, 18,000. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The thing is -- and this is 11 something that does need to be looked into, because I've 12 heard both ways, and I just have no idea. We haven't had -- 13 been dealing with it. I understand some of that funding may 14 be reimbursed from the State for emergency management 15 coordinators, and I don't know. That's just something I'm 16 throwing out there. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Who could look into that for us? 18 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I'm sure -- 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Auditor? 20 MS. DOSS: I will. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And at one time, the County 22 was paying the City $9,000 or $10,000 a year for the person 23 to serve as the emergency management coordinator. We were 24 paying the fire chief that, so I don't know where that is in 25 our budget process either. Is that money still in there? 7-6-15 bwk 22 1 MS. DOSS: No. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, I think, you know, it's 4 all been rolled into the EMS contract. 5 MS. DOSS: Right, it has. 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: One deal now. Now, my 8 understanding is, the State would reimburse as to the 9 percentage of time that that person is spending from their 10 normal duties, you know, like the lieutenant with the fire 11 department doing emergency management stuff. And what I 12 understand, the City's now got that up to 100 percent, so -- 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: What you're saying is Tony? 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. I don't know. 16 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So the State's reimbursing 17 them for his salary. I don't know; there's a lot of unknowns 18 in this. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Would this be something in the 20 Sheriff's budget that we would add in, or is it a separate 21 item for a new -- 22 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, technically, this 23 person, if they're emergency management system coordinator 24 and fire marshal, they should answer directly to this Court. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: So it's not going to be in the 7-6-15 bwk 23 1 Sheriff's budget; it can be separate. 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: But I don't know how y'all 3 want to create -- the fire marshals normally are certified 4 peace officers, too, so they got to be carried, kind of like 5 setting up like they did with Ray, under constables. Now, we 6 have an office space out there we can give them for an 7 office. Or if you would rather, for timekeeping and -- and 8 duties and that, it be under my department, that's fine too. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: What I'm asking is, how are we 10 going to address this in the budget process? We're going to 11 have to set up a separate line item? 12 MR. ROBLES: We can create a new department. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, okay. All right. And so is 14 it -- is it the Commissioners Court's desire to create that 15 new department and line items for that? 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 17 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. And so we're talking 19 about roughly $75,000. 20 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think it will be more than 21 that, by the time you add a vehicle, fuel... 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'm not against creating 24 this, but I think we need to start with the personnel cost, 25 and before we go any further, let's get a cost of what it's 7-6-15 bwk 24 1 going to take to operate, because we need this position. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Absolutely. 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: But we need to have -- just 4 as any other department, know what it's going to cost. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: But tentatively right now, we want 7 to try to set up a new department for that, and then we'll 8 get into costs at the next session, maybe. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. I think -- I mean, yes, I 10 think we need to keep it on a -- let's not get it lost in the 11 big book. Let's keep it on the sheet with the other 12 employees and things. I mean, we need to have the department 13 created, but let's not incorporate everything in. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: I just don't want it to fall 15 through the cracks. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That's why it needs to be on 17 there. 18 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And I think as much as 19 anything that Rusty has said, and I just know from the four 20 fire departments out in my part of the county, a fire marshal 21 of some type has come up more than once, and I think that's 22 almost as important as the management coordinator. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: I do too. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rusty, one more question for 25 you. I don't believe you were here when we talked about 7-6-15 bwk 25 1 capital items last week; you were on vacation or something. 2 I don't know where you were. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: As usual. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: As usual. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, I wish. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: There was, I guess, 463,000 of 7 funds left in the -- for the communications, cell tower for 8 all of your communications stuff, you know, whatever that 9 was. I'm just wondering how much of that's going to be left. 10 Do you have any idea -- 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Won't be any left. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That sounds like the Sheriff I 13 know. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: We're going to be -- you're 15 talking about the C.O. for the 1.2 million or whatever we 16 agreed was the final price in there, but it is going to use 17 every penny of that. In fact, -- 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: That answered the question. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: -- on the next regular agenda, 20 we're keeping all the old co-ax coming off those towers, and 21 I've got on that agenda to surplus that, 'cause it's not good 22 for anything, but it is valuable in resale on copper, because 23 we're going to have to replace some radios that weren't 24 included in that. So, next week you'll have that on the 25 budget, and hopefully we can just get those few thousand to 7-6-15 bwk 26 1 replace radios. It's that close. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay, so we'll use all those 3 funds. I thought we would; I just wanted to check. Okay. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 5 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Does this include the 6 structural things for the tower that had to -- the F.C.C. was 7 requiring? 8 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The last deal on the Mountain 9 Home one is now just going to have to add a few more guide 10 wires. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And I think Windstream is 13 going to take care of that. 14 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Good. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The one issue that we are 16 going to face a little bit in this contract, if the thing's 17 not totally completed by October 1, which we're wondering, 18 and if we're still having to operate a couple months off our 19 old system, our maintenance contract on our old system 20 expires September 30th, okay, so we're hoping there won't 21 be -- even though we've got a lot of issues, and they're 22 constantly up here, but that will be like $85, a 23 dollar-a-mile travel that we'll have to come up with if they 24 have to try and maintain it a little bit longer until we can 25 get switched over. They won't give us a couple of months 7-6-15 bwk 27 1 maintenance contract. It's going to be per incident, and 2 that could be an expense that I just don't know about. 3 Hopefully it doesn't happen, but we're trying to look at -- 4 Clay is trying to look at every aspect of it. Little things 5 are going to cost us. And the insurance increase, I think 6 Dawn's working on, because that equipment going up on the 7 towers, Clay has already contacted her with the increase in 8 the value of all that equipment on those towers, so we're 9 trying to get all that covered on insurance as soon as it's 10 hung. So, Dawn's working on that price too. There's a good 11 increase on property insurance. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Procedurally, I want to 13 ask a question of the Court. Do we want to add something to 14 the Sheriff's agenda -- budget for adding deputies? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, I think -- and I was 16 looking at -- I need to ask the Auditor something first. On 17 the nondepartmental page, the first item, the line says, "New 18 hires/requested raises is $197,000. 19 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That does not have -- 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'm trying to figure out -- 21 what does that cover? I really would like a list of 22 everything that's in that, 'cause I know the Sheriff's isn't 23 in there; that's going to be more than that by itself. But 24 we need a list of every department -- not on one of these 25 pages, just a -- 7-6-15 bwk 28 1 MR. ROBLES: There should be one in your binder 2 under probably the second tab. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Salary/personnel requests? 4 MR. ROBLES: Yes. The first page is going to be 5 special raise requests, and the second page should be new 6 employees. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And does the second page 8 include the Sheriff? 9 MR. ROBLES: It does not. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's your total, Sheriff? If 11 you got your -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 247,691. 13 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's right, and that's with 14 roll-ups. 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: But that is just personnel, 16 correct, Sheriff? That's not four more vehicles? 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And it's not -- and I can get 18 by without four more vehicles. We did not authorize the 19 trade-in on the four that we're, you know, getting four new 20 ones, so I will actually have the vehicles for those four 21 officers. Higher mileage, but I will have the vehicles. 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Will they be safe enough not 23 to put your men at risk? 24 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yes, for one year, until we 25 can get through to either doing like we used to do a long 7-6-15 bwk 29 1 time ago, the lease-purchase, and that will be in the 2 following year's budget to look at. But with the vehicles we 3 already have on order that's paid out of the C.O., we will 4 have enough vehicles. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, an officer is about 6 $100,000? 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah, it's -- well, the total 8 for two -- for four is 247,000, Buster, so if you divide that 9 out, it's going to be pretty close. 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 60,000. 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The salary is 45. I only had 12 Nancy figure it for four right now. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: So, do we -- do we want to add 14 four, or just two now and two next year? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I like the number two. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Thank you. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I just -- I mean, I don't know 18 that we're -- I'm still thinking about the big picture. 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The number zero? 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I mean, it doesn't make any 21 difference; it can be four. It can be -- it can be zero. At 22 this point, I'd rather have something in there, either two or 23 four. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I'd take the two, and then 25 earmark that to take out if we -- if we have to. 7-6-15 bwk 30 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I'm with Commissioner Letz; 2 I'm looking at the big picture too, where the whole thing's 3 going on revenue and the whole bottom line. 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think with the -- Buster, on 5 the -- the Sheriff's deputies, his is a little bit different, 6 because it was part of the -- part of the tax increase 7 related to the jail, and we can -- we can phase it or not 8 phase it. But I'm very concerned about pushing that all off 9 until the last year because of rollback issues. 10 JUDGE POLLARD: I am too. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: So -- you know, so that's 12 just -- I look at his a little bit different than the other 13 ones for that reason, because the voters kind of voted and 14 said yes, they want this. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I agree. I was 16 thinking in the same terms, that you do two and two. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And then that eliminates 19 that all at one time thing. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right, okay. So, we're on 21 the -- sort of the same page. 22 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And I'm like you; we may have 23 to take it a small step at a time. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Two small steps, and then 7-6-15 bwk 31 1 it's done. Of course, he'll be back wanting eight the next 2 time. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: But his four deputies are 4 independent of the increased jailers. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The four in the bond issue, we 6 said in 2018. Another 2.92-cent tax deal was going to 7 include 10 jailers, four deputies, and one dispatch. 8 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Oh, the four deputies were 9 included in that? 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: So -- and we're trying to 11 phase -- there's no sense in phasing in the 10 deputies -- I 12 mean, 10 jailers right now. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 14 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The addition hasn't even been 15 started. Until it gets completed, yeah, I'd love to have 10 16 more jailers, but the -- but by requirements and that, we're 17 not required to have it yet. But we will gradually, and they 18 can be phased in as the jail population increases once it 19 opens. 20 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I just didn't understand -- I 21 didn't understand that the four deputies that you're talking 22 about were included in the two. 23 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: They were being included. But 24 it is -- you know, we asked for four deputies last year; we 25 didn't get them. So, we've just kind of -- 7-6-15 bwk 32 1 JUDGE POLLARD: And probably this year -- 2 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Okay. 4 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Trying to phase them? 5 COMMISSIONER REEVES: What will the additional -- 6 just so we've got it covered, can you get by on your current 7 fuel and maintenance budget? You'll be putting two more 8 vehicles on the road if we went with two. 9 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Well, that's a million dollar 10 question, with fuel prices the way they've been. We're doing 11 fabulous now because they dropped so much. If they skyrocket 12 back up, it's going to be close, 'cause we cut it the last 13 couple of years. Fuel, I have vehicle gas and oil; I kept it 14 the same as the current budget, which is 200,000, okay. And 15 as long as I don't -- and that was based on higher prices at 16 the beginning of this current budget, so I feel that should 17 be plenty. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And the -- Commissioner 19 Reeves, that's -- the four guys keeps -- puts one more 20 full-time deputy. 21 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Puts one more full-time 22 deputy. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: So you got one more car 24 full-time; you don't have two -- two cars. Two vehicles. 25 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Yeah. You know, if you're 7-6-15 bwk 33 1 doing it shift-wise, it's one running 24 hours a day. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, precisely. 3 JUDGE POLLARD: So you could include it in your 4 proposed budget, then. 5 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I think it would work in my 6 proposed budget. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Four positions gets you one. 8 COMMISSIONER REEVES: But if we went with -- I'm 9 still looking at small steps and taking two. We're still 10 going to have two vehicles. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: One -- well, it depends. 12 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: If we only take two, then I 13 have two extra vehicles that have higher mileage that, if 14 you'll also do the emergency management coordinator, maybe 15 that would give that person a vehicle for a year. I don't -- 16 you know, we use those vehicles to get spare -- they're spare 17 vehicles, and if you have one go down, you're constantly 18 using them. We were down to one spare, and it's hard to do. 19 That's why we originally decided not to trade in this year. 20 So it's just -- we can make it work on the -- on the deputies 21 without anything other than all the roll-ups and that. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: So what adjustments, if any, are to 23 his current budget, then, based on what -- taking small 24 steps? 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I would say half the number 7-6-15 bwk 34 1 he just give us, two deputies. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Is my feeling. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: 125,000, ballpark. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For right now, that's good. 6 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: The only other thing I would 7 like to do is those corporal positions. I think that's -- I 8 don't think it's fair. That's 13,000 a year, okay, for 9 deputies, and it's 7,000 for -- 7,500 for the jail. 10 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 17,000, you said? 11 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: It's 17,395 for deputies, to 12 create one of the current -- and it's 7,568 for the jail. 13 That's four positions for a year, so it's not that much an 14 individual increase, but it does put them in between. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Sheriff. 16 JUDGE POLLARD: Thank you, sir. 17 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: And thank y'all. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes, ma'am? 19 MS. BOLIN: I just -- Rusty and I have talked about 20 this, and the Auditor and I have talked about it. I think 21 with his tax rate increase, he was looking at January to 22 December. But the first tax rate increase will have to go in 23 on the '15 tax year, because our first payment's due in the 24 spring of next year. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. 7-6-15 bwk 35 1 MS. BOLIN: So the only way to cover it is to put 2 it into this year's tax rate. 3 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Which is what we said, 2015. 4 But that's the part we're in right now. It will take effect 5 October 1. 6 MS. BOLIN: Right. 7 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: That's what was expressed to 8 the citizens during that. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Are we going to -- sit down. 10 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: I do thank y'all for taking me 11 early. And, Heather, I appreciate it, because I do have 12 appointments I have to get my granddaughter to in San 13 Antonio. 14 MS. STEBBINS: Oh, yes, you should. 15 SHERIFF HIERHOLZER: Thank you. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Judge, while I'm on this new 17 hire request page, they had -- one of things on here that I 18 want to address is -- I think it's Diane's office. There 19 were some 14's that were not moved up last year under the 20 adjustments county-wide, and I think those are a priority to 21 me. I think that that's one department that we pretty much 22 told those employees that they would be -- there may be some 23 others around the county; I don't know, but I know there was 24 some in your office. But I think that they -- that should be 25 14 to a 15, those positions, and I don't know how many there 7-6-15 bwk 36 1 are. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: How many are there? 3 MS. BOLIN: I think there's four -- well, wait a 4 minute, I got to include the one in Ingram. That's five. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Five. But I just think that 6 it's just the right thing to do. We should do that. That's 7 my feeling. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: The Auditor's listening. All 9 right. Everybody agree with that? 10 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yes. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yes. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. All right, let's go to 13 the -- 14 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I just can't figure out why 15 it wasn't done. Why wouldn't these things -- talk about 16 things falling through the crack, or not being able to 17 understand how to run our office, and -- 18 JUDGE POLLARD: A lot of cracks. 19 MR. ROBLES: I think we just ran out of money that 20 year. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: We just ran out of money? 22 MR. ROBLES: Couldn't afford to do it all in one 23 year. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. County Attorney. 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Where is that? 7-6-15 bwk 37 1 COMMISSIONER REEVES: It's up -- right up at the 2 top. County Attorney. 3 MR. ROBLES: Might be under a yellow tab. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Assistants salaries. That's two 5 assistants? 6 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Total. 8 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Together there. Any other 10 questions? 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. No, I got my other 12 question answered. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Are you getting by with two 14 assistants? 15 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir, I am. And I have 16 requested an increase for one of those assistants at a 17 3 percent increase, which is -- the difference in salary is 18 $2,637 and some change. I've also requested an increase for 19 one of my administrative assistants at two steps, which the 20 overall difference in salary is going to be $1,809 and some 21 change. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Those are -- you call them 23 merit increase requests? 24 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: That's in addition to our -- our -- 7-6-15 bwk 38 1 what we generally call the COLA, two and a half percent? 2 MS. STEBBINS: That's whatever y'all decide. I 3 just believe that these employees take on a lot of 4 responsibilities and do a very good job, and should be 5 rewarded for their performance. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: That's a merit. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: James, is that the 5,300 8 listed? 9 MR. ROBLES: Yeah, those are both combined with the 10 roll-ups, additional retirement. 11 MS. STEBBINS: So, the overall difference on my 12 budget would be just over $5,300, yes, sir. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And do you -- do you add 14 those increases plus roll-ups, and then the COLA? 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Depends on this Auditor. 16 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Of course it does. I can 17 answer that. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: What do you think? 19 MS. DOSS: Well, it depends on how y'all want to do 20 it. 21 MR. ROBLES: I think this is in addition to the 22 COLA, if that's correct. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: So do you do the COLA first and 24 then add -- 25 MR. ROBLES: If that -- that's what you were going 7-6-15 bwk 39 1 for? 2 MS. STEBBINS: That what I was going for. But, of 3 course, I'll take what I can get from y'all for my employees. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: That's what you requested in the 5 budget? 6 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: It's in here. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I have no questions, Judge. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Any other questions? 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: None. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Thank you, ma'am. 12 MS. STEBBINS: Thank you. Oh, my hot checks. I'm 13 sorry, I won't leave yet. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Questions on hot checks? 15 MS. STEBBINS: Yes, sir. I'm requesting a $15,000 16 budget, because that's what we have in our account on the hot 17 checks. And what we'll keep in that hot check account at the 18 end of the year for our office is $3,000. The balance of 19 that we'll put back into the general fund, I believe is where 20 that goes. Is that correct James? 21 MR. ROBLES: I'm sorry? 22 MS. STEBBINS: From our office, does it go back 23 into the general funds? Yes -- Tracy's saying yes. So, 24 whatever we have that we've collected over this past year we 25 will put back into the general fund, minus $3,000 that we 7-6-15 bwk 40 1 keep in our office. 2 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No questions. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think the former County 4 Attorney always said we're going to give back to the 5 taxpayers. 6 MS. STEBBINS: We're giving it to the taxpayers. 7 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's it right there. 8 That's good stuff. 9 MS. STEBBINS: Okay. Any questions? Perfect. 10 Thank you. 11 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Revisit departments. 12 We're revisiting; we've done some of that. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah, we did. I don't have 14 any. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: Anybody want to revisit -- 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Road and Bridge. We are 17 looking at a deficit on that. Mr. Odom, whoever would like 18 to speak, what is included in your capital purchases this 19 year? 20 MR. HASTINGS: We had a dump truck. 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And what -- 22 MR. HASTINGS: $93,000. 23 COMMISSIONER REEVES: How old is the one you're 24 wanting to replace? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Rephrase it. Charlie, can you 7-6-15 bwk 41 1 live without that dump truck? 2 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'm trying to be nice, but 3 okay. Can y'all keep doing your work without the dump truck? 4 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Just back up. How old's the 5 one you have? 6 MS. HOFFER: Probably eight to ten years old. 7 MR. HASTINGS: Yes. We can -- I think we can push 8 it off by a year. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I would like to see if we 10 could. I mean, we're looking at some major deficits and 11 trying to balance. If we could get by without the one year, 12 it would be -- 93,000 is pretty significant. 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Indeed. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Thank you, Len, Charlie, Kelly, 15 for giving up a dump truck. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Kelly said what? 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: For giving up the dump truck. 18 JUDGE POLLARD: When it comes around to cutting 19 10 percent more, 10 percent more, they're probably going to 20 say, "We want credit for that." 21 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think that's a pretty 22 good -- 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: They came to -- they put money 24 in the offering plate already. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 7-6-15 bwk 42 1 MR. HASTINGS: That was for Precinct 1. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Oh. 3 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Can you bring him a 4 wheelbarrow? 5 MR. ODOM: Maybe two. 6 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Two. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: He's got a pickup truck. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. We've kind of discussed 9 several -- all of these things somewhat here. Take a look at 10 it and see. Does anybody want to go back to any additional 11 personnel, salary discussions, or any of that stuff? 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- 13 JUDGE POLLARD: 'Cause we've done -- we dipped into 14 all of them here. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I'd like to talk about the 16 COLA. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: What's -- 19 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Wait. Wait, let's don't -- 20 have we completed Road and Bridge? Is there -- all right, 21 let me ask a specific questions, then, if you're not going to 22 do it. What about this money that is coming through the Tax 23 Assessor/Collector's office in years past? 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Good subject. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Let's bring that out on the 7-6-15 bwk 43 1 table -- 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Good question. 3 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- and talk about that just 4 for a second. And then there's a deficit of some sort that 5 needs to be talked about. Somebody talk about that, please. 6 MS. DOSS: Right now, the Road and Bridge fund has 7 a deficit of -- well, part of it is because of the motor 8 vehicle sales tax that used to be going into the Road and 9 Bridge fund, and now it goes into the general fund. For the 10 past year, it was about $422,000. 11 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we could allocate that to 12 Road and Bridge. 13 MS. DOSS: Yes, you can. We can still record it in 14 the general fund, but then transfer it to the Road and Bridge 15 fund. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think that's appropriate. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: I do too. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think that's appropriate 19 that we do that. 20 JUDGE POLLARD: Is that -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Was there another -- 22 MS. DOSS: Then there is still about another 23 additional 500,000 deficit. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: There's still another 25 additional $500,000 deficit, okay. 7-6-15 bwk 44 1 MR. ODOM: Counting the 100,000, it's only 400. 2 MS. DOSS: Yes. Without the 93,000, it would be 3 400,000. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Is that the dump truck? 5 MS. DOSS: Yes. 6 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: My dump truck? 7 MR. ODOM: That's right, Precinct 1's. 8 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah, it's not to be used 9 anywhere else. So that's -- we're down to 400,000 now. 10 MS. DOSS: Approximately. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: $400,000 deficit. Now -- 12 all right. Now, what does that mean, and how do we get 13 there, and are we asking for more things than we have money 14 to pay for? Is that how we get -- end up in a deficit? 15 MR. ODOM: We're getting back to where we were 16 before we cut, gave you the money. That's all we're doing. 17 We're going back one or two years, trying to catch up on that 18 maintenance. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think -- let me try to 20 explain. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Sure. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My recollection is that we -- 23 there was -- they had a larger fund balance several years 24 ago, and we reduced their tax rate and moved that difference 25 into the general fund amount to help the overall county tax 7-6-15 bwk 45 1 rate, to keep from having to do an increase last year or two 2 years ago. And, therefore, we -- the tax amount for that 3 department is less, 'cause they used their reserves last 4 year. And now it's probably -- for them to be able to keep 5 their program going, we need to increase their tax rate by 6 some amount to get rid of that deficit, or transfer money 7 from the general fund to reserves -- or build up their 8 reserves out of our general fund and let them have a deficit 9 budget in that one department. And those are the options. 10 That's how it happened, as I recall. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I do recall that. Thank you 12 for your explanation, but now how do we fix it? 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think it's up to -- I mean, 14 the two options are either increase the tax rate for that 15 department and decrease it for the regular general fund, or 16 transfer some from the reserves, and I don't know what's a 17 better way to do it. I'll defer to the Auditor. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Transferring funds -- 19 reserve funds doesn't sound like a fun thing to me. 20 MS. DOSS: Well, it's operating -- it's an 21 operating transfer. It's not really the reserves; you're 22 just transferring an operating transfer from the general fund 23 to support the Road and Bridge fund. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So -- 25 MR. ODOM: We're in excess now of reserves. 7-6-15 bwk 46 1 JUDGE POLLARD: What does that do to our so-called 2 25 percent requirement for our -- 3 MS. DOSS: Well, to retain our 25 percent in the 4 general fund, we would still have to make sure that we have 5 enough coming into the general fund to support the Road and 6 Bridge and the general fund. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: And that means a tax increase? 8 MS. DOSS: It depends on what budget y'all -- 9 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Or also how much you go out of 10 the year with excess funds, right? 11 MS. DOSS: Right. Right. It depends on -- right. 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And that depends on that, 13 so -- 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think the -- to me, we've 15 asked Road and Bridge several years back to cut their budget, 16 which hurt all of our roads county-wide, and I think we need 17 to build that back up, 'cause we've spent too much money in 18 the last 20 years getting our roads in really good shape, and 19 I don't think we can afford to let that -- you know, push 20 that off any more. So, I think we need to get the money back 21 into Road and Bridge so they can get their road maintenance 22 program where it needs to be. 23 JUDGE POLLARD: I think we're probably all agreed 24 on that. The question is, how? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I think my preference would be 7-6-15 bwk 47 1 that we adjust their tax rate to account for the -- for the 2 deficit, and then we'll deal with the rest of it when we look 3 at -- when we get our final numbers in. 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Can we make that decision when 5 we see the final numbers? 'Cause seeing how much we go out 6 of the year with, we'll know whether it's better to take it 7 from the reserves and put it over there, or the tax rate. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think it's -- I don't 9 think the net effect will be any different, personally. I 10 think -- I mean, it may require that we have a -- either they 11 have a -- you know, transfer money to their reserves, or we 12 use our reserves. I mean, it's going to be the same, unless 13 you do a tax increase. So I think -- I mean, I don't -- and 14 I don't think we know -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Which way to go right now. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't think we have enough 17 information right now. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's my point. We don't 19 have enough information to make that decision. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But I think we can -- by 21 putting -- by adjusting their tax rate, we can just -- we can 22 move forward. The decision about what we do for the rest of 23 the budget is still -- will be made -- 24 JUDGE POLLARD: It seems to me like the budget is 25 the wish list for everybody, what they want. 7-6-15 bwk 48 1 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 2 JUDGE POLLARD: Need to adjust that to reflect what 3 they want, and then when we get the bad news on July 27th or 4 thereabouts, then we got to go back and take a look at it. 5 So -- 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Either way. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: -- what's your -- what are your -- 8 how do you want to go about it? 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: My preference would be to ask 10 the Auditor to adjust the tax rate. When we get our final 11 numbers, we can always undo it. 12 MS. DOSS: Okay. Okay. 13 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: And I agree with that. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: That makes it the wish list, then. 15 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we can change anything at 16 that time. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Right, I understand. 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: That's where I am. We're 19 going to get more information to make that decision, so I 20 don't -- 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Now, are you saying that we 22 should take their wish list and -- and cut on it a little 23 bit, see if we can't adjust it down? 24 JUDGE POLLARD: Well, you may not want to. I mean, 25 for example, maybe I'm out to lunch here, but maybe the 7-6-15 bwk 49 1 figures will come in on July 27th or something where 2 everybody gets all their wishes. That's not likely going to 3 happen, but it seems to me they're requesting their budgets 4 for right now, and we ought to leave them the way they are, 5 and then take a look at it when we get the -- when we find 6 out what the revenues are going to be. 7 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And see what we need to do. 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah. 9 COMMISSIONER REEVES: If we want to do that, then 10 if y'all have -- you know, want to wait on your dump truck 11 till we see. I just was trying to find a way to reduce the 12 deficit, and y'all know better than we do where you might 13 could reduce it and save the money. 14 MR. HASTINGS: Yes, sir. 15 COMMISSIONER REEVES: We're just needing to find a 16 way to reduce some expenditures, but if the dump truck is 17 more priority than something else in here -- but as I've 18 heard Number 1 say a lot of times when we spoke at the 19 deputies' academy, that one of the four things people in this 20 county want are good roads and good law enforcement, and 21 we've been talking about both of those today. And I find 22 them to be very important. 23 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Yeah. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: I agree. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: And so we don't want to cut 7-6-15 bwk 50 1 those from what we need. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Correct. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Well, it seems to me like 4 we've heard from the departments. We know what they need, 5 okay. We've got that data, okay. We don't know what the 6 revenue's going to be, so -- and I don't think, until you see 7 that, you can determine what action we need to take. So, I 8 don't see -- 9 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: The final -- 10 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. Right, precisely. 11 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: -- final thing. We're -- I 12 think we're just trying get a -- 13 JUDGE POLLARD: Procedure is what I'm trying to get 14 at here. How do you want to do it? 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: I think that the tax 16 increase that he's talking about is the way to do it, but I 17 want to address one other thing. And I agree with 18 Commissioner Letz, and don't tell anybody that I do, on the 19 fact that we have -- we have built some fantastic roads in 20 this community, 100 miles and quality pavement, et cetera, et 21 cetera, and we have to maintain that. And there's another 22 part of that, and that is we give them the money to do that, 23 to maintain what we've built, so we've got to quit going out 24 and building airports and other things. We have to build 25 roads and focus on that and stay with that. That's my 7-6-15 bwk 51 1 opinion. That's what I want done in Precinct 1, I can tell 2 you that. 3 COMMISSIONER MOSER: And volunteer fire stations. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, volunteer fire 5 stations -- 6 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, that we looked at. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: I think the mandate is that what's 8 required by the Constitution and statutes have to be given 9 priority over special projects. And if it comes to a choice 10 of furnishing the services required by the Constitution and 11 the statutes and conflicts with the special project, then the 12 special project has to go away. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Understood. 14 JUDGE POLLARD: Period. 15 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: You guys want to throw that 16 in? 17 JUDGE POLLARD: I agree with you. 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's a -- and I said we're 19 saying all that in agreement with maintenance. A good 20 maintenance program, we've got to spend money. It costs 21 money to do that. 22 JUDGE POLLARD: Road and Bridge is Constitutionally 23 required. It should be given preference. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Priority. 25 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I think our roads speak for 7-6-15 bwk 52 1 themselves. If you look at other counties -- and Charlie and 2 I drove down -- to get to one county road, you've got to go 3 through Kimble County to get to the Kerr County road. And we 4 drove down this dirt road that I've got some pasture roads 5 probably a little better, and you see a sign that says, 6 "Kimble County maintenance ends," and then there's nice paved 7 county road through there. And this is a tribute to what our 8 guys are doing out there. 9 JUDGE POLLARD: Let me just say in defense of Judge 10 Roberts in Kimble County down there that out of the 254 11 counties in the state of Texas, they are the fourth -- they 12 are the fourth lowest from the -- they're fourth from the 13 bottom in tax base. They have -- they struggle out there, 14 and that's kind of a poor county. That's what Judge Roberts 15 told me. So, that probably explains -- I can remember a time 16 when the air conditioning and heating went out in the 17 courthouse down there, and they couldn't afford to fix it for 18 three years. 19 COMMISSIONER REEVES: I'm just complimenting our 20 Road and Bridge. 21 JUDGE POLLARD: They're struggling down there, and 22 so it's a different situation. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Okay. COLA? 24 MS. BOLIN: Just a question. 25 JUDGE POLLARD: COLA, yeah. 7-6-15 bwk 53 1 MS. BOLIN: Are we going to discuss additional 2 employees after we get certified values, or what? 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yes. 4 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes. 5 MS. BOLIN: Okay. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Yeah, everybody's got their wish 7 list in, and then -- then the numbers get worked on when we 8 find out what the revenue's going to be. 9 MS. BOLIN: I just got a report in Austin on our 10 motor vehicles, and we qualified for two additional free 11 workstations because of the number of transactions that we do 12 every year. So, that says a lot, because they are not real 13 free with giving their free stations away. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: COLA. 15 MS. BOLIN: Yes. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: COLA. The number in the 17 budget, I guess, to look at is 2.5 percent. My question is, 18 what is the actual COLA, or the -- I guess the rate based 19 on -- I think we usually look at the Dallas -- one of the 20 Dallas indexes. 21 COMMISSIONER MOSER: C.P.I. 22 COMMISSIONER LETZ: C.P.I. So, I mean, I'm curious 23 as to what that index is. 24 MS. DOSS: I don't know what the index is. 25 MR. ROBLES: Last we checked, it was negative half 7-6-15 bwk 54 1 a percent, but that wasn't for the year; that was just for 2 the latest month, I believe. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, and we're not going to 4 make that decision today because it has a big budget impact, 5 but I think we need to look at that. If it's -- if we're 6 going to call it a COLA, it needs to be close to what the 7 actual C.P.I. index says that number should be. 8 MS. DOSS: Okay. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: If we're going to just give a 10 raise, well, give a raise, but if it's going to be a COLA, it 11 needs to be -- 12 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Based on something. 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Has to be that number or pretty 14 close to it. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: In the past, it's just been a raise 16 of about two and a half percent. That's been the policy, 17 hasn't it? 18 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No. 19 COMMISSIONER MOSER: No. 20 COMMISSIONER LETZ: No, we've done it from 21 two percent to three and a half percent, and based on what 22 the -- usually it's based on the COLA. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: COLA. 24 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Pretty close. 25 MS. DOSS: Right now we have it calculated at 2.5. 7-6-15 bwk 55 1 How do you normally do this? 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We have normally just looked 3 at -- I think it's one of the Dallas indexes, the one we look 4 at. And we -- because of our step and grade, we do adjust it 5 a little bit so it fits. But I just think we need to have 6 that actual index -- 7 MS. DOSS: Okay. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- before we make the decision 9 on what the COLA is, because it needs to be what the real 10 number is. 11 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 12 MR. ROBLES: You want it as of what date? Do you 13 want, like, the last fiscal year up to the latest data they 14 have? 'Cause they haven't -- 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think the latest data they 16 have. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But it's got to be over a 18 period. If it's a COLA, it should be from -- basically from 19 October 1st of last year through September -- through -- 20 MR. ROBLES: The latest that they have. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- the latest we can get. 22 MS. DOSS: Yeah. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And then there's a lot -- I 24 know those indexes are always -- some of them include food, 25 some don't include food, some include energy and some don't. 7-6-15 bwk 56 1 I mean, I think it needs to be kind of a -- I think you need 2 to include food and energy, because that's a huge portion 3 of -- 4 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I think we just went through 5 that for the airport budget stuff too, so I think that's what 6 they did, so I think it would be consistent. 7 JUDGE POLLARD: Did I hear you say currently, 8 you're calculating it at two and a half percent? 9 MS. DOSS: That's where we -- the COLA is now, yes. 10 MR. ROBLES: That's the easiest one to do because 11 of our step and grades. 12 MS. LANTZ: We have to shift our step and grades 13 according to what raise that you do. It's very time 14 consuming to do that. 15 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Are there any other of 16 these areas we need to talk about? 17 JUDGE HOYNE: Judge? 18 JUDGE POLLARD: Yes? 19 JUDGE HOYNE: I was curious about the update or 20 discussion on the apparent discrepancies in the J.P. clerk 21 pay scales that we discussed or sent letters about a few 22 weeks ago. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The comment -- or what I recall 24 coming from H.R. Department is that there's -- the 25 discrepancies aren't there. I mean, they told us it wasn't 7-6-15 bwk 57 1 real accurate based on looking at the actual data. The pay 2 scale is higher because of -- I mean, is the step -- grade's 3 the first number? 4 MS. LANTZ: The step -- no, the grade. 5 COMMISSIONER LETZ: The steps are consistent -- 6 MS. LANTZ: The grade. 7 COMMISSIONER LETZ: -- for all the clerks. And 8 it's -- the grade difference is a matter of seniority and 9 following our policy, county policy; that there was no 10 exceptions made. 11 MS. LANTZ: I think they're requesting on the grade 12 actually from a 17 to a 19. That's what my understanding 13 was. 14 COMMISSIONER REEVES: That was my understanding as 15 well, because that -- 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Mitzi has something. 17 JUDGE FRENCH: I actually did not, during budget, 18 even bring up that discrepancy. The things that I brought up 19 were looking back at the MGT evaluation that was done back in 20 2013 that recommended our clerks be a 19 as opposed to a 17, 21 asking the Court to look at that again, and also the other 22 issue that I brought up is that -- is we actually have three 23 clerks this year that achieved their master certification, 24 passing their master certification exam through the Texas 25 Justice Court Training Center. And in order to even take 7-6-15 bwk 58 1 that exam, they recommend you have five years experience, you 2 have ethics training. They have to do a lot of studying. 3 It's a very difficult -- I took the test myself. Very 4 difficult test to take and pass. That just exemplifies their 5 experience and what they do for our offices and how they even 6 keep us in check sometimes. But that test is designed for 7 the knowledge of a judge, and we had three clerks go and pass 8 that exam this year. They -- my clerk has over 200 hours 9 with the training center, has been with the county since 10 2001, and also looking for maybe a step or merit increase 11 based on their accomplishments. 12 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Dawn, is there any other 13 departments in the same position? Basically, what they're 14 saying is this came up out of this 2013 study. Are there any 15 other departments -- I mean, we just talked about Diane's a 16 few minutes ago, and just looked at Diane's, 'cause I think I 17 gave everyone a copy of that study a while back. Jody made 18 copies of it. And I think their department was probably the 19 only one -- the only other one was Juvenile Detention, and we 20 did that over a three-year span to bring them where they 21 needed to be. I mean, I think that we should follow what the 22 study -- I mean, we paid for it, and I think if it calls for 23 the clerks to be at a higher level, I have no problem with 24 that. 25 MS. LANTZ: But education -- there is something 7-6-15 bwk 59 1 about education in our policy, and that's something I think 2 you brought up last time about addressing. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. I think we need to look 4 at our -- at a future -- or at some point, we need to look at 5 our policy on education as to what truly qualifies for the 6 one-step increase. 7 MS. LANTZ: 'Cause as of right now, it's law 8 enforcement and I believe Road and Bridge are the only two. 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Right. There are some, and I 10 think we need to -- and I think J.P.'s kind of go into one of 11 the very small departments that -- you know, it's much easier 12 for the larger departments to ask for merit increases than it 13 is for the smaller departments. It's not -- 14 JUDGE FRENCH: The first time we tried to get it 15 done -- and actually, at one time we thought we were going to 16 get it. 17 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And so it's kind of -- that's 18 always been a -- I know, a concern, so I don't have any 19 problem with making the adjustments that we need to. I think 20 those should be a priority as well. I think before we start 21 increasing others' salaries, we should at least get everyone 22 on par with what the study said we should get. 23 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right, I agree. 24 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So, who -- who has not been 25 brought up? 7-6-15 bwk 60 1 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I guess it's the -- like Dawn 2 said, Juvenile Probation was, so a few in the Tax Assessor's 3 office and a few -- 4 MS. LANTZ: Those actually didn't have an increase 5 to go up to 15. 6 JUDGE POLLARD: Oh, they didn't? Okay. 7 MS. LANTZ: It was Juvenile Probation -- or 8 Detention, and I believe -- 9 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Whichever ones were -- said we 10 should adjust, we need to adjust. 11 MS. LANTZ: If you're wanting to go off the study, 12 there again. I mean -- 13 COMMISSIONER LETZ: But we pretty much have done 14 that. 15 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Yeah. 16 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Why do studies if we don't 17 follow them? 18 COMMISSIONER MOSER: Right. 19 JUDGE POLLARD: Okay. Anything else? 20 MR. ROBLES: I've got some, really quick. This 21 came in late from the Soil and Water Conservation District. 22 We gave them 1,500 this year. They want 2,000 next year. 23 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Same. 24 MR. ROBLES: Okay. 25 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: "Same" means 1,500? 7-6-15 bwk 61 1 MR. ROBLES: Yeah. 2 COMMISSIONER LETZ: And I saw the letter, and part 3 of my reason was they didn't give any reason why they wanted 4 more money. 5 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Well, I had one of them ask 6 me the other day to make sure they got the same -- used the 7 word "same." 8 JUDGE POLLARD: Which means they didn't even know 9 what they were getting. 10 COMMISSIONER REEVES: So at the next one, we'll 11 revisit the pay. 12 JUDGE POLLARD: Mm-hmm. 13 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The COLA and pay increases. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: We really don't need to meet 15 again until the end of the month. I mean, we pretty much -- 16 COMMISSIONER REEVES: Until we know how much money 17 we've got. 18 MS. DOSS: The revenue. 19 MS. GRINSTEAD: You still have not looked at the 20 Youth Event Center. 21 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Well, that's -- yeah, we have 22 the Maintenance Department after we figure out what we're 23 going to do at the Youth Event Center. 24 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The what? 25 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Maintenance and Youth Event 7-6-15 bwk 62 1 Center. But we'll decide probably this week. 2 MR. BOLLIER: We still have four more books. 3 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Yeah, but I know all yours will 4 be looked at. We do have to have another meeting for 5 Maintenance. 6 MR. ROBLES: I think that's on the 14th. 7 COMMISSIONER REEVES: The 14th. 8 COMMISSIONER LETZ: 14th, okay. 9 MS. BOLIN: Okay. Since we talked about my clerks 10 going from a 14 to a 15, it shows in here no increase. When 11 I talked to Jeannie about it, she said that Judge Tinley was 12 the one who said, "No, thank you," and I never -- I did not 13 know that. I -- I didn't have any way to ask him, because he 14 was already gone. So, I need to know, what do I need to do 15 to get these girls where they need to be? If we're going to 16 go by this with no increase. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: Let's go with -- put it in -- the 18 wish list is what they want. 19 COMMISSIONER LETZ: Put it at that, and then 20 we'll -- like I say, we'll revisit it when we find out what 21 the revenues are going to be, on the revenue side. 22 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: So the study did call for 23 some increase in her office, and we didn't give it to them? 24 Yes or no. 25 MS. BOLIN: On that side. 7-6-15 bwk 63 1 MS. LANTZ: No, sir. 2 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: That's not true? 3 MS. LANTZ: Correct. It's a 14 on here. 4 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: Why would we want to 5 allow -- okay, y'all do what you want to do. 6 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I thought that it -- I thought 7 the study had called for the increase. I was under the 8 impression it did. 9 MS. BOLIN: Well, and I thought it did too, for the 10 whole office, and then Dawn brought it to my attention that 11 it was everybody except motor vehicle clerks. And I don't 12 understand why. 13 COMMISSIONER MOSER: The study was the study. 14 COMMISSIONER LETZ: I don't know. I mean, I don't 15 know why. 16 COMMISSIONER MOSER: I don't either. 17 JUDGE POLLARD: All right. Anything else? 18 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: What else, Jody? 19 MS. GRINSTEAD: Nothing. I'll see y'all on 20 Wednesday; you have another meeting on Wednesday. 21 COMMISSIONER BALDWIN: She's hitting us up for a 22 raise, is what's going on here. She had a big birthday over 23 the weekend. 24 JUDGE POLLARD: All right, see you Wednesday. 25 (Budget workshop was adjourned at 11:45 a.m.) - - - - - - - - - - 7-6-15 bwk 64 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 9th day of July, 2015. 8 9 REBECCA BOLIN, Kerr County Clerk 10 BY: _________________________________ Kathy Banik, Deputy County Clerk 11 Certified Shorthand Reporter 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 7-6-15 bwk