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Committee keeps 1'5 scoring, urges strict submission deadlines ahead of August target
Summary
Members endorsed the prior 1-to-5 scoring metric, recommended a strict submission "drop-dead" date to avoid last-minute requests, and set an informal target to finalize recommendations by about August 1 ahead of the certified tax roll.
District Attorney Jeff Swain asked whether the 1-to-5 scoring that the committee used previously—5 for most necessary, 1 for least—provided useful guidance. Several members said the scale worked well and that averaging member scores into a single number for the Commissioners Court gave the court the information it needed.
Commissioner Walden recommended enforcing a strict submission deadline to avoid late items, saying, "If you don't have your request in by this date, it will not be considered. Period." Members discussed whether to show individual member votes or present only the averaged score; the committee's prior product transmitted an averaged score so the full court did not see individual votes.
The committee agreed to try to have recommendations ready by about August 1 and noted that the county must usually wait for the certified tax roll (expected the last work week of July) before making final budget decisions. Members asked staff to circulate meeting dates and requested department heads include written justification and workload analyses with new-position requests so scoring would reflect concrete needs.
