Maverick County accepts large Operation Lone Star funding and authorizes streamlined spending limits

Maverick County’s commissioners on Nov. 12 unanimously accepted a new round of Operation Lone Star funding and authorized county staff to create positions and spending lines needed to implement the award.

The project director told the court the grant represents “our largest ones to date,” and described the award as sufficient to cover salaries, equipment and other operational costs for the county’s Operation Lone Star activities. The director said the program will be administered under existing grant rules and must still be approved by the governor’s Office of the Governor for final line-item changes.

The court approved a motion to allow staff to create funding lines and positions necessary to begin work immediately, with a standing condition that major amendments would return to the commissioners for approval. Commissioners adopted a threshold consistent with the county’s purchasing policy (items above the $50,000 purchasing threshold will be treated as major amendments requiring return to the court). The court also specified that any salary modifications tied to the grant will be brought back to the commissioners for review.

County staff said the award will help the county support participating departments, staff court operations, buy equipment for law‑enforcement and public-safety partners, and defray extraordinary costs such as transport, autopsies and other emergency responses. The project director said the county has already used audit findings to tighten compliance and that the governor’s office will review and approve any substantive budget changes.

The court’s action clears the way for the county to submit required amendments to the governor’s office and to begin operating under the new award once state approval is complete. The public‑record discussion stressed compliance: county officials said all expenditures will remain subject to the governor’s fiscal guidelines and county purchasing rules.