Montgomery County will revisit how some of its services are provided to municipal governments within the county, with the view of potentially charging for those services.
Commissioners voted 4-1 to assess several individual county departments’ interlocal agreements at a June 14 commissioners court session, with Precinct 2 Commissioner Charlie Riley the sole no vote.
Interlocal agreements dictate terms of services that the county can provide to other governing bodies, including but not limited to cities and other counties. Agreements can be for ongoing services or one-time projects.
Budget Officer Amanda Carter told Community Impact Newspaper at the June 14 meeting that these services are provided for municipalities that do not provide them on their own, such as animal control.
“Currently, these services are not provided through the cities,” Carter said. “If they can provide them, it means the county is able to lower its tax rates further.”
Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack brought the motion to commissioners court, saying he wanted to put municipalities “on notice” of potential charges for county services. Noack also noted the topic had come up for consideration “for years” without action.
“Every year we talk about it, and we never get through,” Noack said. “I’ve talked with the sheriff, with some of the other folks who run different departments, I believe everyone is interested in this approach, and it’s gonna take the court coming together on each interlocal agreement ... and determining what the costs are.”
Some of the departments Noack cited included the county jail, the county’s animal services department and the county permitting department. Noack said he was working with County Sheriff Rand Henderson on the jail, while County Judge Mark Keough said he was working with the animal services department. Precinct 1 Commissioner Robert Walker and Precinct 4 Commissioner James Metts volunteered to handle the fire marshal and permitting offices, respectively.
“It would seem we have some of these areas covered, and we need to do research on the others,” Keough said.
First Assistant County Attorney Amy Davidson said the county attorney’s office had worked out an initial agreement with Montgomery County Animal Services, but there were questions about what smaller municipalities would be able to pay for animal control. MCAS Director Aaron Johnson said in February that only Conroe and Willis operate municipal animal service departments in the county, Community Impact Newspaper previously reported.
Riley opposed the motion, saying he was “not comfortable” with the action at this time. During the discussion, he suggested prioritizing the county’s environmental assessments, which he said are not charged.
“I would like to see us focus on our environmental inspections ... our food, septic. We go to all these cities and don’t charge a dime,” Riley said.
County Attorney B.D. Griffin told Community Impact Newspaper that although no specific timeline was set for revised agreements, the county was aiming to have initial assessments in time for cities to build their budgets. Noack’s motion suggested commissioners return two weeks from the June 14 session to discuss findings.
An example of an interlocal agreement is embedded below. In this interlocal agreement between Montgomery County and the city of Montgomery, the county will perform road maintenance on city roads, with the city reimbursing the county for work performed. This agreement was approved by commissioners on May 25, 2021.
