Commissioners increase tax rate to 38 cents

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The Scurry County Commissioners’ Court approved a budget of $16,827,105 and a tax rate of 38 cents per $100 valuation for the 2017 fiscal year during today’s meeting.
The court recessed at noon for lunch with several agenda items left to be discussed and voted upon this afternoon.
During the Aug. 30 meeting, commissioners proposed raising the tax rate from 32 cents to 36 cents. When the contractor for the Scurry County Appraisal District overestimated certified values by $84 million, the county was faced with between $300,000 and $330,000 in projected lost revenue.
County Judge Ricky Fritz said the court had several options as to how it would attempt to make up that amount, including raising the tax rate, taking money from next year’s budget and taking money out of reserves.
The court had previously approved restoring some of the budget cuts presented in Fritz’ budget.
On Aug. 30,  commissioners agreed to restore subsidies to the Scurry County Museum and Department of Public Safety. One of the biggest changes in increasing the tax rate from 32 cents to 36 cents prior to today was taking $700,000 out of the projected sales tax revenue.
Commissioner Terry Williams said the county tax assessor estimated sales tax revenue at $1.8 million while Fritz’ proposed budget estimated those revenues at $2.5 million.
To help make up the difference, the property tax rate had to be increased three additional cents to cover the difference in taking out the sales tax projections, Williams said.
The increased tax rate also helped commissioners add $277,000 in proposed spending cuts back to the budget, including an additional $13,644 for Scurry County EMS to cover higher salaries for two employees who will be classified as para medics. A total of $40,000 was approved for overtime pay for the Scurry County Parks Department and Scurry County Sheriff’s Office and nearly $1,300 was added to  cover uniforms for the parks department.
The court also approved putting $22,000 back into the budget for county employees longevity salary in creases.
During today’s meeting began with a public hearing. Lynn Fuller thanked the commissioners on behalf of the Scurry County Museum for the  reinstatement of the $45,000 funding for the museum into the proposed budget and reiterated that the museum still needed that money.
Gail Summers also spoke during the public hearing, asking whether the commissioners’ court intentionally used the museum to spark enough outrage in the community to raise the tax rate. The guidelines of the public hearing would not allow commissioners to respond during the public hearing, Fritz said.
Summers also said she did not think the county expenditures on the courthouse, especially the breakroom and artwork hung around the courthouse, were needed.
“There appears to be an overabundance of artwork,” Summers said. “I’ll gladly take some of that artwork and hang it in my house, seeing as how I paid for it.”
Bonnie Nussey spoke about the effect she believed a tax rate increase would have on the general public and expressed her disappointment that while 90 people were present at the commissioners’ court meeting to protest the museum funding being cut from the budget, only 21 people — including county officials and employees — were at today’s meeting when the actual budget and tax rate were to be voted upon.
“The tax rate affects everybody,” Nussey said. “Each private citizen has to make adjustments in their own personal finances to deal with the economic downturn. I think the county needs to take ownership of everybody’s interests, not just the interests of a few. I know it’s going to be hard to make those choices, but that’s what we elected you to do, to represent all the people in this county.”
Williams said the state legislature and its unfunded mandates were bigger issues for taxpayers than what the commissioners had been doing. Mandates are requirements the state places on the county but does not fund. Williams proposed that the best way to raise enough revenue was to raise the tax rate to 38 cents.
“I think 38 cents would absolutely cover that $300,000 number,” Williams said.
Pct. 4 Commissioner Jim Robinson agreed the tax rate could not stay where it was and that the county could not afford to keep dipping into its dwindling reserves.
“We can’t keep pulling out of our reserves,” Robinson said. “In a couple years, we won’t have enough to do nothing. We support the museum, the golf course, the parks and the Boys and Girls Club. We want to keep what we’ve got. But we can’t keep taxes the way they are.”
Williams also said that due to federal government limits, employees at the Scurry County Boys and Girls Club and Scurry County Health Unit were being asked to be hourly employees instead of salaried employees. Williams proposed that the budget include $10,000 to each of those two entities to pay for overtime costs.
During the meeting itself, Nussey, Summers and Bob McCarter expressed their concerns about money spent on county programs like the county golf course.
“Why do the taxpayers need two golf courses to fund?” McCarter asked. “There are a select few people who play, but they can play at the college. We can get by with one golf course.”
Summers asked whether selling the golf course has been discussed.
Williams said that much like the museum, there would need to be a large showing of support for closing the golf course for it to happen.
Summers said the budgeted income for the course, a net loss of $148,000 for 2017, did not seem to justify keeping it open. Summers also said the same could be applied to other entities.
“I say sell it if it’s not making money,” she said. “How many other cities our size have a Boys and Girls Club?”
Williams responded by saying that if the Boys and Girls Club were to close, there would be a repeat of the 90 people in court supporting the museum on Aug. 30.
“You want to see anger, cut the Boys and Girls Club and see what happens,” Williams said.
Fritz said the county has tried to make cuts wherever it could. Fritz said there were no remodels or capital projects in the 2016 budget or 2017 proposed budget.
“I tried to find ways to make cuts and we had 90 people up here angry,” Fritz said.
Williams made a motion to increase the tax rate to 38 cents and for it to be ratified. Robinson offered a second and the motion passed 3-1, with Pct. 2 Commissioner Marianne Randals opposing.
With the increase to a 38 cent tax rate ratified and the overtime money for the health unit and Boys & Girls Club, the budget was at $16,827,105, about $1.8 million less than than the 2016 budget.
Williams made the motion to approve the budget and Pct. 3 Commissioner David Harrell seconded. The motion carried 3-2, with Randals and Fritz opposing.
The court also approved the order for adopting the tax rate for the 2016 calendar year but 2017 fiscal year and levy taxes. The amount of money to be raised by ad valorem taxes in the 2017 budget is $8,438,339.
The court also approved the necessary funding for commissioner-elect Shawn McCowen to attend newly-elected official education courses. Harrell said $3,000 was included in the 2016 budget to cover training.