Hays County judge proposes 2014 budget

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."