Callahan County Auditor Sandra, presenting the county's proposed fiscal year budget at a commissioners court workshop on Aug. 18, said the county will pass through a lower tax rate to taxpayers while generating new revenue and building a budget that includes a 6% cost-of-living increase for employees.

Sandra said the general fund rate in the proposed budget is 36¢ and the combined rate is 52.9005¢, and that growth in the tax base will produce more than $500,000 in new tax revenue for the general fund and over $200,000 for the road-and-bridge fund.

The budget matters because it sets the county's spending priorities, funds employee pay, and identifies how the county will handle several large, unfinished capital projects. Auditor Sandra told the court the package balances revenues and expenditures while leaving space for upcoming decisions from the district judge and for legislative changes that affected elected-official supplements.

Key points presented
- Tax rate and revenue: Sandra told the court the proposed combined tax rate is 52.9005¢ and that new revenue from growth yields “over a half million dollars of new tax revenue to the general fund and over $200,000 to the road and bridge fund.”
- Employee pay: The commission has built a 6% cost-of-living increase into the draft budget for most positions. Sandra said she had “plugged in a high side, budget placeholder for the auditor salary” because the district judge will set the auditor and court-reporter salaries at a scheduled hearing on Sept. 11.
- Elected-official supplements: Sandra said recent state action changed how some county supplements are calculated. She told the court the county judge state supplement will rise from $25,200 in the current year to $31,500 because the Legislature raised district-judge salaries and the supplement is now tied to that change. She also proposed increasing the district-judge supplement to $10,000 and added a new line item for a county attorney supplement after noting that the county attorney, Shane Deal, had not taken the supplement in recent years.
- Capital projects and fund balance: Sandra said two large items—network cabling (budgeted at about $381,000) and remaining courthouse/annex furnishings (roughly $200,000 in outstanding installation/invoice costs)—are unlikely to be invoiced and paid before Sept. 30 and therefore she proposed moving those costs into the next fiscal year. To present a balanced budget she plugged in a fund-balance draw of $525,007.36 to cover those deferrals.
- Annex/courthouse project: Sandra told the court the county has received a guaranteed maximum price (GMP) from the construction manager for the annex project and that the GMP likely exceeds the money currently in the construction fund; she said the court will discuss the GMP and next steps at a future agenda meeting and with the county attorney.
- Federal/state grants and ARPA: The auditor updated the court on remaining ARPA funds (shown in Fund 436) and said about $521,373.76 remains committed for projects such as a tower repeater and tax-office scanning; those funds must be expended under ARPA timeframes. Sandra also said she expects the county will receive the remaining Texas Historical Commission retainage after closeout and is working on an arbitrage calculation for the bond proceeds that may require a refund to the federal government.
- Senate Bill 22 (law enforcement supplement): Sandra reviewed the sheriff’s fund (Fund 432) and related stipend and salary allocations. She said the sheriff’s grant totals $350,000 and noted the court had increased eligible stipends and funded two full-time deputies from that grant; the auditor said the district and sheriff’s office stipend lines had been reallocated to match pay codes.

Discussion, next steps and procedural items
Sandra said that because statutory changes to supplements occurred after publication of the newspaper notice, the court can place an agenda item on Monday, Aug. 25, to adopt an updated elected-official salary schedule before the fiscal year ends. She also noted the district judge will hold a hearing on Sept. 11 to set the auditor and court-reporter salaries, and the court must adopt those figures after the judge’s order. The auditor asked commissioners to review the draft this week and report any requested changes before the public budget hearing and adoption next Monday.

The court did not vote on final adoption at the Aug. 18 workshop; commissioners will consider the budget, tax rate and any amended elected-official salary sheet at the published adoption meeting on Aug. 25.

Ending
Sandra closed by asking commissioners to raise any outstanding concerns over the next week, and the court later recessed and then adjourned by motion at 2:57 p.m.