Brazoria County judge talks budget, courthouse construction during State of the County

At Brazoria County’s State of the County Luncheon on Oct. 19, the county’s budget and progress of the courthouse expansion construction were a top priority for speaker Judge Matt Sebesta.

Zooming in

Sebesta kicked off the luncheon by educating attendees on the different roles played by city, county and state governments before segueing into how the county intends to spend its 2023-24 fiscal year budget it adopted at the beginning of October.

The $240 million budget comprises five significant portions: public safety, administration, road and bridge, culture and recreation, and debt. Public safety expenditures account for nearly half of the overall budget, Sebesta said.

Quote of note

Sebesta also spoke about the progress of Brazoria County’s 150,000-square-foot administration building, which began construction in November 2021.

Sebesta said that the county needed a larger administrative building and courthouse to accommodate Brazoria County’s growing population.

“We’ve got a couple of more years of construction before we get to the final product,” Sebesta said after confirming that the building’s construction was halfway complete.

The additional space will be crucial to accommodate the high volume of civil and criminal cases the county previously could not process due to capacity, Sebesta said.