At the Hays County Commissioners Court meeting July 29, County Judge Bert Cobb unveiled the highlights of his proposed $155.55 million 2014–15 county budget.
Commissioners will hold workshops Aug. 5 and 12 during their regularly scheduled meetings to discuss the budget and make any adjustments. On Aug. 19 commissioners will discuss and adopt the proposed tax rate.
Cobb proposed maintaining the current tax rate of $0.4690 per $100 of property valuation.
"This is not the final product," Bert said. "This is the beginning product. This is the skeleton on which we lay the meat and the tendons and everything else to make a complete budget. This is the beginning of the process."
Included in the budget is a $150,000 item to continue a study into the possibility of building a new jail.
According to the Sheriff's Office's weekly jail report at the commissioners court meeting, Hays County is currently housing four inmates in the Guadalupe County Jail due to overcrowding at the Hays County Jail. Sheriff Gary Cutler said transferring inmates to Guadalupe County costs Hays County about $50 per day per inmate.
Budget Highlights
- $225,000 to complete implementation of a new computer-aided dispatch system
- $525,000 for 15 replacement law enforcement vehicles with equipment to be distributed by the court
- $161,000 to replace infrastructure for outdated and inadequate server storage and add Wi-Fi capabilities throughout the county
- Salary increases and incentive pay for eligible law enforcement positions per collective bargaining agreement
- 4 percent for all other employees (combination of merit and/or market adjustments)
- 2 percent movement in current salary chart to address new hires and remain competitive
- 4 percent cost of living adjustment for elected officials
- $1,510,605 decrease in use of reserve funds in FY 2015
