Milam County Judge Dave Barkemeyer said Friday he will propose a three-cent tax increase for 2018-19.
That would take the rate from 70 to 73 cents.
Last month Barkemeyer said he was thinking about asking for a 75-cent rate in addition to seeking large spending cuts.
The financial problems were triggered by the closing of Luminant’s Sand-ow Power Plant. (See story below.)
CUTS— “We are proposing to reduce the general fund expense budget overall by some $340,000 and reduce the total tax revenue allocated to the four commissioner’s precincts by at least $500,000,” Barkemeyer said.
“They will be reducing their expenditures accordingly. These will, no doubt, at least in some instances, result in a reduction in our ability to deliver county services, In fact, we’re already making some of these cuts and, gauging by some of the complaints I’ve been getting, it’s already happening,” Barkemeyer said.
‘BLAME’—“I’ll accept the blame (for the budget containing the 3 cent increase),” Barkemeyer said.
“I had already asked the commissioners to each accept $125,000 less in their portion of the ad valorem tax revenue. The argument from one of the commissioners was they each give up as much as it would take (about $215,000 each), some $850,000 total to make the general fund budget work out without having to increase the county tax rate,” he said.
“It was my opinion that this would put too much strain on our road program in the county, particularly in certain precincts,” he said.
SUPPORT—“I believe we the taxpayers need to support keeping our precincts doing as much as possible to keep our county roads maintained during this budget crunch, rather than significantly cutting back in some areas and/or overly depleting reserves,” he said.
The judge noted departments have cut budgets over $300,000. “To balance the general fund we are building in the $900,000 reserve that we anticipate carrying over from 2018.”
Barkemeyer said he has included the ability to borrow up to a half-million dollars as a safety valve in case of an emergency or any other unexpected expenditure.
He said financial advisors recommend a three-month, or 20 percent, general fund reserve.
“In our case that would be about $3 million,” he said. “ We are at less than a million at best and we need to be prepared to borrow if necessary.”
- Log in or Subscribe to post comments.