Former county attorney apologizes to commissioners for year-end budget overrun

Robert Anderson, who served as Ellis County attorney from January 2021 through Jan. 13, 2025, appeared before the commission on April 1 to apologize for his office exceeding its budget in his final year in office.

"...the fourth year of my term, my office came in over budget. And so I've been feeling kinda lousy and embarrassed about that," Anderson said, attributing the overrun primarily to a staffing overlap when he hired a fifth attorney, Josh Becker, who began work before another attorney, James Rutherford, had left. Anderson said the overlap—having five attorneys while budgeted for four—was the principal reason his office exceeded budget limits.

Anderson described the hire as an investment in the office because the new attorney has proved to be capable and likely to continue serving the community. He said, however, that in hindsight he would have sought commission approval for the additional budget authority in advance.

To make amends, Anderson said he has continued to handle about a dozen remaining cases as an appointed special prosecutor and is handling all but three of those matters at no charge to the county.

Commissioners accepted the apology on the record. Chair Michael Burgess and others thanked Anderson for his candor and for continuing to provide unpaid prosecution services in several remaining cases.

Ending

Anderson framed the overrun as an unintended result of staffing overlap during a transition and offered unpaid work on remaining assigned prosecutions as a partial remediation; the commission accepted his apology publicly.