County staff recommend holding most outside‑entity grants steady; animal shelter billing and Waco Family Medicine request draw discussion

On July 17 McLennan County commissioners reviewed outside‑entity contract requests, focusing on agreements with the City of Waco, the county’s role in funding the municipal animal shelter and health‑related contracts. County staff reported new materials received July 16–17, including a $25,000 increase in a Waco Family Medicine request to $841,656 for FY2026. The court examined the animal shelter billing methodology after the city presented a reconciliation process that reviews the shelter budget and intake numbers over the previous 12 months during April and apportions the net cost to jurisdictions by proportional intake. Staff said one month’s review identified 129 animals brought in from McLennan County — about 6.43 percent of intake — producing a county share of roughly $172,500 for the year under the city’s calculation. Commissioners noted city and county officials expect a temporary spike and said they would monitor whether that number levels in coming months. Commissioners also reviewed behavioral‑health related contracts coordinated under HOTBHN (the behavioral health partnership). The court agreed to keep the HOTBHN line items at the same general levels used in prior budget discussions because the county and its partners are mid‑transition on larger regional grants and state funding allocation. One HOTBHN contract (pretrial diversion) had requested a 27 percent increase (about $22,000) to expand services; commissioners signaled they would revisit the request with more performance data. After discussion the court signaled an operational decision to treat many outside‑entity asks as hold‑steady for budget planning; commissioners asked staff to return with detailed comparisons to 2024 and 2025 numbers, and to seek clearer itemizations of city indirect costs that had driven apparent increases in several municipal contract lines.