Creation of new law enforcement positions and a budget office headline the proposed Montgomery County budget for fiscal year 2017-18.

Montgomery County Commissioners Court proposed the FY 2017-18 budget on July 28 after a series of budget workshops where county department heads were asked to cut 5 percent of operating costs. The proposed $328.75 million budget represents a 5.5 percent reduction from the $347.91 million budget for FY 2016-17.

The county also proposed a 46.67-cent property tax rate for tax year 2017, the same rate as 2016.

The reduction in spending is intended to help the county accommodate a $15.6 million loss in property tax revenue that stems from a 20 percent homestead exemption that was approved in March, county Tax Assessor-Collector Tammy McRae said.

“We heard the taxpayers say, ‘We want relief,’ and I think the 20 percent homestead exemption does that,” County Judge Craig Doyal said. “I think it has been an overall great budget.”

A hearing will be held Sept. 5 to discuss and vote on the proposed budget and property tax rate.

Major investments

In the proposed budget, commissioners approved the creation of 56.5 new jobs for the upcoming fiscal year. Of those, 53.5 are law enforcement positions within the Montgomery County sheriff’s office and the county’s five constable precincts.

The creation of 41 jobs at the sheriff’s office is part of a plan to increase staff to adequate levels over the next few budget years, said Bryan Carlisle, captain with the executive division of the sheriff’s office. The four-year strategic plan was outlined by Sheriff Rand Henderson, who took office in January.

The plan includes initiatives to implement Compare Statistics, known as COMPSTAT­—a program that allows officers to use computer statistics to analyze crime patterns to make informed decisions. The plan also includes creation of a real-time crime center and a campus master plan in 2018.

Of the new positions, 12 are additional patrol deputies and the remainder support staff. Carlisle said the sheriff’s office plans to add 24 patrol deputies per year in each of the next three budget years.

“We know we have to increase the numbers of the other support staff to handle the effect of more patrol deputies coming,” he said.

Doyal said investing in law enforcement positions is necessary in a rapidly growing county, especially considering that 83 percent of the county is unincorporated. Growth of the annual budget, which has increased from about $213 million in FY 2009-10 to $347.9 million last year, has also prompted the need for a county budget office.

Creation of a budget office would provide staff dedicated to evaluating the needs of individual departments, Doyal said. Commissioners set aside $300,000 to create the office this year.

Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack said creation of the budget office would help the county manage its expenses more efficiently.

“Some have said that [creating this department] is a waste of money, [but] I think that it is a waste of money not to have this position in place because without somebody focused on that effort continually, we just have not been able to [really get in there] looking line by line for areas in which we can identify opportunities and efficiencies,” he said at a budget hearing. “

Effect on residents

The homestead exemption and budget reduction means a typical resident will pay about $253 less in tax year 2017 than they would without the exemption in place.

Citing a 1 cent property tax rate decrease approved last fiscal year, the 20 percent homestead exemption and $19.3 million budget reduction, Noack said the Commissioners Court has made a significant effort to provide residents with some level of property tax relief.

“I believe that this court, in one year’s time, has really accomplished quite a bit,” Noack said. “I would challenge anybody to bring me another governmental entity in this county and in this state that has done the same thing.”

While the court’s efforts achieve its intent—to provide property tax relief to county residents—Doyal said most of those funds will be absorbed by other taxing entities. He said school districts in particular continue to rely on increasing amounts of local property taxes for funding, as the state has reduced public education funding in recent years.

“What we are giving [residents] in a 20 percent homestead exemption [they] will never see in [their] pocket because there are other entities that are raising their budgets,” Doyal said. “We could cut our budget in half, and it would barely affect [their] overall tax bill. I would hope that other entities try to follow that lead and try to give the taxpayers some relief.”