Jack County Judge Keith Umphress has a sign on his door saying “It’s Budget Time”.
Budget workshops are going on for the county as well as other entities and school boards throughout the county as they all number crunch in preparation for the start of the Oct. 1 budget year.
For the largest entity in the county, it will be a very conservative budget. The county has been having workshops after each meeting. Umphress will have a preliminary budget on the website for public perusal by the end of the month.
He says the court is only funding the bare minimum or what is deemed “extremely necessary.” With the Sheriff’s Department budget running about 60 percent of the annual budget, much of the focus is there.
The department is running two deputies short in patrol and another four short with jail staff. What is hurting the county is the pool of applicants is normally the same for both the JCSO and Lindsey State Jail next door.
“The Sheriff Department pays $18 an hour,” Umphress said. “The Texas Department of Criminal Justice just gave a raise so their people are getting paid around $19-$20 an hour.”
Jack County law enforcement has been losing employees to surrounding areas for several years. Umphress and JCSO officials came to an agreement where two of the six missing positions would not be funded in order to give those remaining employees a raise and help with retention as well as give a higher starting raise for the new employees.
“Doing this will allow the department to stay within its current budget,” Umphress said. “We’ve had one of the lower pay scales (in the area) for years. This will not make us the highest but it will bump us to a little better than average.
How the department splits the four remaining positions is up to them, Umphress said.
Other departments in the midst of transition are both the county attorney and JP office with Jessica Bailey moving to the JP office effective January 1. Umphress said someone to replace Bailey in the attorney’s office is expected to be hired by Sept. 1, giving Bailey a few months to train her.
Bailey will then begin her training in late November or early December before taking over her role Jan. 2.
Umphress says what’s helping the county budget, which could see its tax rate drop this year, is the hard work of the county tax assessor-collector’s office. Since taking over all collections Jan. 1, an additional $7 million has been collected from taxing entities.
Certified property values have gone up 7% county wide, which is down from the statewide average of 8.9%, Umphress said. The cost of living nationally has gone up around 9% over the last year and Umphress admits he can’t keep up.
He will be working with commissioners to offer county employees some sort of increase with the goal being 3%. Employees’ health insurance, which is paid for by the county, is going up 10% this year.
In a way to ease some of the burden, the county will be picking up the additional 10%. Umphress said that will amount to around $64,000 for the upcoming year.
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