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Commissioners adopt Fiscal Year 2021 budget

Monday, October 12, 2020

Hays County fiscal year 2021 budget went into effect Oct. 1, following a public hearing on Sept. 22 and is now available online. 

“The Hays County Commissioners Court put together a budget that balances the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and provides the necessary services to the citizens of Hays County,” said Pct. 2 Commissioner Mark Jones. 

The budget included a 5.18% increase in property tax revenue from last year’s budget or $4,619,577. Of that, $4,396,386 will be raised from new property added to the tax roll. 

The tax rate was decreased from last year’s rate of .4237 to .4212 or 42.13 cents per $100 home valuation. The no new revenue tax rate was .4043. 

Of the 42.12 cents per $100 of taxable property value, 26.78 cents will go towards the General Maintenance and Operations, 12.46 cents will go toward General Debt and 2.88 cents will go toward Road and Bridge Maintenance and Operations.

“Ensuring our employees have the resources they need to provide a high level of service to our residents was the main goal of this budget,” Pct. 4 Commissioner Walt Smith said. “We made some tough choices and compromises to create a strong budget that keeps us well positioned financially.

The budget allocated $750,000 for flood mitigation projects, $500,000 for ground water modeling and $100,000 for criminal justice capital funding.

It also funded $486,000 for the WestNet Fire/EMS CAD Program, $80,000 for waterline improvements for the jail, $90,000 for software and hardware programs for various county departments, $202,000 for upgraded civil process software for Constables, $110,000 for the Hays County Sheriff’s Office for 10 additional leased vehicles with capital equipment vehicle packages for patrol units and $54,000 for Constable Pct. 2 for two additional leased vehicles with capital equipment vehicle package. 

For personnel the budget allocated $1.5 million for salary market increases for law enforcement positions per a collective bargaining agreement, $344,000 for a 2% cost of living adjustment for Hays County employees and department heads effective April 4, 2021, $845,000 for new positions for the expansion of jail operations in anticipation of the new jail opening soon and $223,000 for new positions and related vehicles and equipment for constable precincts 1, 4 and 5.

“During these uncertain times, I submitted a lean budget,” Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra said. “One key item was a three-million dollar cut to wasteful outsourcing of inmates. This allowed me to set the budget to last fiscal year’s numbers and ensure that all our strides in judicial investments remain effective.”

He added, “As a result, our adopted budget had a more efficient use of taxpayer dollars, allowed us to reinvest heavily in our judicial system, and a lower tax rate was achieved.” 

 

This article has been updated since it was originally published on 10/13/2020.

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