Voters will decide the fate of several county departments Tuesday, according to the proposed cuts Scurry County Commissioners adopted on Dec. 30 in the event the county tax rate rollback election passes.
Commissioners approved a list that includes $4.5 million in expense cuts, although only about $3 million in funding is in question in the rollback election. The additional $1.5 million in cuts are the result of withheld taxes while Kinder Morgan protests its mineral values.
Even though the county would still be short $1.5 million if the rollback fails, Scurry County Judge Dan Hicks said previously that the 2020 budget would move forward as originally adopted except for the planned $1 million in reserve savings and $500,000 in other, unidentified expenses.
Rollback petition organizers and Hicks were given the opportunity to make a closing argument for why voters should or should not vote for the rollback.
According to Hicks, years of drawing down reserve funds have crippled the county.
“Years of keeping the tax rate artificially low, spending from reserves and using early payments to supplement the current budget year have put us in a poor financial situation and can no longer be sustained. One year ago, there was -$103,000 in reserves,” he said.
Ali Mize, who helped organized the rollback petition, said the county’s reserve funds are stronger than Hicks said.
“The Scurry County Commissioners’ Court always talks about ‘general fund’ reserves and how low it is. That fund had a balance of $201,658 on Jan. 1, 2019. Did you know there are other ‘reserve’ funds? Some of those are Road and Bridge with $1,038,219, Permanent Improvements with $219,324, EMS with $2,644,986, Airport with $404,065 and the Golf Course with $473,029. That is a grand total of over $4.75 million in reserves.”
Mize claimed that if the rollback fails, the county could spend money beyond the approved 2020 budget.
“The judge and a commissioner have both acknowledged that they are looking into either renovating the country club at the golf course or demolishing the current building and building a brand-new clubhouse; the 3 percent raises for all county employees will be retroactive to Jan. 1, on top of the 2.8 percent COLA (cost of living adjustment) that was already given; has no reason to look for ways to cut the expense of the $2.8 million it will spend on health insurance in 2020; and the county will get $3.3 million more than last year,” Mize said.
Hicks said that this year’s budget is a fiscally sound path forward.
“If the rollback fails, Scurry County will be on a path to recovery,” Hicks said. “We have implemented cost-savings and increases in other income to offset rising expenses. We continue to find ways to take the burden off of the taxpayer but these efforts take more than one year to implement or see some of these savings.
Mize said voting against the rollback would open the door to higher county spending.
“Why should we condone and reward the years of ‘frivolous’ spending with a 28 percent increase in property tax revenue?” she asked.
But without the increase in ad valorem, or property tax revenue — which is largely from a 55 percent spike in mineral values — Hicks said closing departments was the only option.
“If the rollback passes, the Commissioners’ Court, out of necessity, has voted to close multiple quality of life departments as of Feb. 28,” Hicks said. “The rollback rate does not allow Scurry County to maintain these valuable assets. I assure you this decision was not made lightly or to punish the community. The loss of these valuable assets will affect all of us to one extent or another and will be unrecoverable in the future. I ask you to give us the time it will take to get to a positive place.”
The rollback election ballot gives voters a choice of voting for or against, “Reducing the tax rate in Scurry County for the current year from 0.44980 to 0.34970.”
A “FOR” vote on the ballot indicates that the voter is in favor of reducing the tax rate, while an “AGAINST” vote indicates the voter prefers to leave the tax at its current rate approved by the county commissioners.
Voters will be asked to present valid state- or federal-issued identification before they vote.
People without identification may cast a provisional ballot if they fill out an affidavit stating they do not have the necessary identification, Scurry County Clerk Melody Appleton said.
Polls will be open Tuesday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. at four voting locations.
• Precincts 5-7 — Scurry County Library.
• Precincts 8-10 — Towle Park barn.
• Precincts 11-13 — south side of The Coliseum.
• Precincts 14-15 — north side of The Coliseum.