Commissioners come to budget consensus

The Hays County Commissioners Court came to a consensus on its fiscal year 2021 budget by increasing the judge’s recommended tax rate to accommodate for staff budget requests including addressing shortfalls in law enforcement equipment and staff. 

County Judge Ruben Becerra recommended a decreased tax rate from .4237 to .4187 along with a decrease in around $3 million for inmate outsourcing in his budget.

After considering that recommended budget, the commissioners agreed on a .4212 tax rate for fiscal year 2021, still a slight decrease from fiscal year 2020. 

After receiving input from the sheriff’s office, the commissioners court agreed to budget $838,904 for inmate outsourcing instead of zero dollars as well as a new inmate program director position. 

“The sooner the better, to get rid of contract detention,” said Commissioner Lon Shell. “I just don’t think it can happen right now. The best way to try to save money is to try to find efficiencies in our system to have fewer inmates. I think we are working towards that but it will happen over time.”

The commissioners also decided to add various new staff and position regrades for operations, a pretrial bond officer, a CECC Director and new deputy constables and necessary equipment for precincts 1, 4 and 5.

Precincts 1, 2 and 4 have each been budgeted for an additional vehicle or motor unit. 

They also decreased funding for Social Services to its level from years prior to a one time injection. 

The budget will go through more revisions before coming back to the court for a final vote on Sept. 22.

In other business, the court approved the purchase of additional election equipment for the Nov. 3 election. 

The commissioners extended census outreach with the United Way of Greater Austin through Sept. 30, which is the new deadline for completing the 2020 Census. 

The commissioners also approved a funding agreement between Hays County and the City of Kyle for the Computer Aided Dispatch System in the new 911 co-located communication center.