On July 30, Hays County Judge Bert Cobb proposed a $75.8 million county budget for the 2014 fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2013, to Sept. 30, 2014.
Cobb recommended the county not increase its property tax rate of 46.9 cents per $100 of property value. He also proposed using nearly $3.1 million of the county's reserve funds to pay:
- $1.15 million for capital improvement projects
- About $530,000 for Sheriff's Office vehicles and equipment
- $300,000 for capital murder trials
- About $1.12 million for other expenditures
"Everyone didn't get everything they wanted" in the proposed budget, Cobb said. "Some got some of what they wanted, and that's the way we have to do it in our budget."
The proposal includes a 4 percent raise for county employees and 2 percent raise for elected county officials.
Commissioners will hold workshops during their Aug. 6 and 13 meetings to discuss the budget and hear funding requests from elected officials, department leaders and nonprofit groups. Commissioners are scheduled to vote on the proposed tax rate Aug. 20 and will hold public hearings Sept. 3 and 10 before holding a final public hearing and adopting the budget Sept. 17.
Full jail
Also at Commissioners Court on July 30, Lt. Eric Batch of the Hays County Sheriff's Office told commissioners the county jail's male population had exceeded capacity during the previous week.
The jail can hold a maximum of 276 male inmates. During the fourth week of July, the average male inmate population was 276, and the peak was 280.
The jail can also hold up to 56 female inmates. The average number of women in jail was 46 with a peak population of 49 during the fourth week of July, Batch said.
Cobb called for "all hands on deck" to quickly adjudicate inmates and reduce the jail population.
"A lot of people are moving to Hays County, and not all of them are law-abiding, believe it or not," he said. "We don't get to pick and choose. This is a problem that is ongoing. We're bumping up against a wall that we cannot penetrate without some additional choices."
