Monday's Internet Edition, October 06, 2008.
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| Coryell County took the first step in building a new stretch of road along Grimes Road by officially closing the first crossing after turning off FM 1113. The crossing, above, will remain open during construction of a new road west of the railroad tracks, but the official closure will allow TxDOT to begin its work. – Photo by LARRY HAUK |
Leader-Press correspondent -
GATESVILLE – Coryell Commissioners on Monday saw the first draft of the county’s 2005 budget which calls for an increase of almost $1 million in expenditures.
“This is just a pencil draft,” Judge John Hull was quick to point out. “If everybody got everything they asked for, this would be it.”
The court first labored through its regular agenda, which called for closing the railroad crossings along Grimes Road, near Copperas Cove, receiving a report from the county clerk on her findings at a statewide elections seminar held recently in Austin, hearing the judge’s report and issuing permission for utility work along county easements in the eastern portion of the county.
Commissioner Jack Wall reported he had received final word from the Texas Department of Transportation that TxDOT, Burlington Northern Railway and the county are poised to begin work on eliminating the railroad crossings along Grimes Road, northwest of Copperas Cove. Wall and County Attorney Edwin Powell have been communicating with TxDOT for several months in an effort to get the project under way. Wall said the intent is to build a new road on the west side of the Burlington-Northern tracks which would alleviate any need for pass-through traffic to cross the tracks.
The project, which is said to cost the county about $180,000, would take only a short time to complete, Wall said. “We just needed to get this done so TxDOT could get started.”
The court on Monday voted to close the crossing on the southwest end of the project so work could begin.
“It doesn’t mean we’re closing the road today,” Wall said. “What we’re doing is getting this in order so TxDOT can start work. The crossing won’t actually close until the new road is completed.”
The Grimes crossings have been a safety concern for some time. Wall said discussions on the issue date back as far as 1996 b ut a series of misplaced communications and undelivered contracts put the work on hold.
“We may have to deliver this thing down there (to TxDOT) in person – carry it by hand,” Wall said. “I guarantee you we’ll send it Certified Mail,” Powell said.
In other business, County Clerk Barbara Simpson reported she attended a Secretary of State’s seminar last week intended to bring county clerks up to date on electronic voting systems. The federal government has passed the HAVA, or Help Americans Vote Act, which requires that each county polling place be equipped with an electronic voting machine, or Direct Respondent Entry (DRE) machine.
There are several DRE machines on the market and the county may choose any one approved by the state, Mrs. Simpson said.
“I think the machine from Hart Intercivic, Inc (of Ft. Worth) is the best one because it’s easier to repair and it has a paper trail feature,” she said. “If we don’t have some type of paper trail, a re-count issue would be meaningless.”
HAVA requires that each voting precinct be equipped with at least one DRE by election year 2006. The county must purchase the machines but at least some of those funds will be repaid through the federal and state programs in place to support HAVA, Mrs. Simpson said. The total number required will be 23, she said – one for each precinct voting place and one for each of three early voting booths.
She already has included the cost of two machines in the new budget. “I think it’s important that we have a couple of these machines in here next year so we can train on them and learn how they work,” Mrs. Simpson said.
“It was a good seminar, but I don’t want to make any quick decisions,” Mrs. Simpson said. “I don’t for see this county having voters wanting to use these machines exclusively,” she said.
The court also issued a utility easement near Mother Neff State Park for telephone line construction.
Judge Hull reported he had been contacted by the state that there is no more room in state hospitals for placement of mentally retarded persons who need placement. “They’ve said every bed in the state is full. I don’t know what we’re supposed to do with someone who needs to be placed there. The state’s going to have to step up and do something.”
Following the regular meeting the court moved into budget workshop where county auditor Ben Roberts presented the first pencil markup of the proposed budget. He explained that the numbers are far from final but it is a place for the court to begin work on the new budget.
The new county budget draft calls for an expenditure of $10.8 million, compared to an expenditure of $9.9 million for FY 2004. The increase would require a tax rate of 43.407 cents per $100 property tax valuation. The current rate is 41.207.
The effective tax rate – that is, the rate the county would have to impose to raise the same amount of funds budgeted last year – is 39.654 cents. The roll back rate, that is the highest rate the county can charge without fearing a roll back election, is 43.716 cents, Roberts reported.
Commissioner began detailing the budget numbers line-by-line and soon found areas to trim.
Commissioner Cliff Price questioned the formula which is in place tat drives the county’s participation in funding the area’s volunteer fire departments. Currently the county assigns 1.5-cents of the tax rate to VFDs and only 1-cent to capital improvements. “We could split the difference and send each one a contribution of 1.25 cents without raising the budget amount,” he said.
Commissioners also balked at purchasing two new motor graders for the county road and bridge department. “I just think we can get another couple of years’ good use out of the graders we have now,” Commissioner Kyle Pruitt said.
Said Price: “I’m opposed to buying two new motor graders at this time.”
The R&B budget also calls for construction of a new building at the yard location but the commissioners, who for weeks have been talking about expanding office space in the county’s annex building at 7th and Leon streets in Gatesville. The $55,000 earmarked for the new building might be moved for use in remodeling the annex to fit the designed purpose, Wall said. “We’re not going to get that maintenance building built this year anyway,” he said.
“If we could get some folks out of the courthouse and into that annex, it would make more room for office space here in this building,” Wall said. The $55,000 is not adequate to complete the remodeling project, but it would go a long way toward offsetting the cost, said Commissioner Don Jones.
Also in connection with the R&B budget, Wall suggested the county may be spending more money than is necessary for crushed stone since the county owns its own rock crusher. “I just hate to see us buy crushed stone when we have a crusher,” Wall said. Pruitt and County Road and Bridge supervisor Larry Roberts have been investigating new ways to make the rock crusher an asset rather than a liability. That report is due to the court within a few weeks.
The proposed budget calls for only one new employee – a building maintenance person for the county’s physical plant.
Commissioners then turned their attention to the Juvenile Probation Department. Last year the Juvenile Probation budget was inadequate and in mid-term, the department made a request for an additional $60,000. This year, Hull said, the increase is evident in the request.
Judge Hull also reported the county’s District Attorney’s office has asked for an additional salary for next budget year. That was cut when Wall said: “I think we’ll address that request next year.”
Hull dismissed the meeting after a motion to adjourn and asked the commissioners to further study the budget worksheet and return next Monday ready to peruse the rest of the list.
Auditor Roberts said each county in Texas must have a balanced budget in place by the end of August because the state’s new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.