Commissioners Court met in a special budget workshop to discuss FY2026 priorities, focusing on a long-term jail master plan and improving radio communications for emergency responders.
Nut graf: Commissioners and the sheriff said recurring costs for transporting and housing inmates and recent failures in handheld radio coverage during flood responses make a jail planning process and improved interoperable radios priority budget items.
The sheriff said the county currently spends roughly $2–3 million a year sending inmates to outside facilities and urged the court to treat that as a recurring cost that could be redirected toward a mortgage-style payment on a local facility. “If that $20,000,000 was put toward a new facility in 20 years, that bleeding is gonna stop,” the sheriff said, arguing a new jail would stop ongoing annual payments for out‑of‑county inmate housing.
Court members discussed a multi-step approach: fund a master plan and feasibility work this year, present options to voters (including tiered pricing and utilization scenarios), and then pursue construction financing if the public supports it. One commissioner said town‑hall style outreach across precincts would be needed: “They can see the pricing and the utilization of it.”
On communications, commissioners noted almost $100,000 remains in Senate Bill 22 funds that could pay for radios this year, with a larger SB22 allocation expected next year to cover vehicles. “Use the 96,000 this year, hit the radios,” a commissioner said. The sheriff described operational problems during recent flooding when handheld radios required deputies to move to higher ground or get into vehicles to communicate: “Our radio count are weakness in our operation…handhelds, our guys doing evacuations last week would have to, come completely out and get on the radio.”
Court members framed the radio purchase as a public-safety priority that should precede vehicle purchases. They discussed using grant funds for capital items rather than salaries and the need to formalize SB22 allocations for sheriff’s equipment and vehicles. No formal motion or vote was recorded at the workshop.
Ending: Commissioners directed staff to incorporate master‑plan and radio funding options into the draft FY26 budget for further consideration and public outreach; they signaled intent to include public information sessions before any voter commitments.