County adopts budget in 4-1 vote

Leslie Gibson

ROCKWALL — ROCKWALL—One vote kept the Rockwall County commissioners from unanimous approval of the 2008-09 budget Tuesday in the regular meeting, that of Lorie Grinnan, commissioner precinct 3.

She would like to have seen more cuts submitted by department heads, saying that the court did not follow through on that effort, and she stated the debt service tax rate increase is based on the just opened county library and on the $30 million courts facility tax notes sold earlier this year.

Disagreeing with her are the other commissioners and judge, who note that the 2.5 cent total tax rate increase is a half-cent less than what voters approved as a tax increase when they supported the library general obligation bond in 2004.

All other parts of the budget, as well as a half-cent per $100 valuation for library costs, are sustained, they say, by the 35 cents which has been the rate for 10 years. Growth and with it increased ad valorem tax roll valuations, allows that 35 cents to pay for the level of services as in the past, and absorb the tax notes for the courts building, which is not discretionary, they point out. Therefore, though that debt accounts for 2 cents of the interest and sinking portion of the tax, per presentation of bond counsel in March, the commissioners consider that 35 cents as absorbing that.

“We were asked by the public to tax them for a library; the library was a discretionay project,” said County Judge Chris Florance in a recent interview.

“The justice center is not discretionary. The county commissioners are mandated (by law) to provide safe and adequate courts,” he said. In March, a letter from a state fire marshall declared that the present courts building’s structure and occupancy loads created a “serious threat” to occupants.

“Courts are not discretionary,” said Jerry Wimpee, commissioner precinct 1, in an interview after the Tuesday meeting.

“Through growth and good management we have been able to take care of the demands of the fastest growing county in the state and only raise taxes to do the library debt service and operating cost,” he said.

The debt service fund revenue from ad valorem taxes is just over $3.5 million, and total debt service revenue is $4.6 million. Total debt service expense should be $4.8 million. That $2 million deficit will come from the fund balance. Last year’s debt service budget was a deficit budget also.

Debt service for next year includes $874 thousand on the library, the same as in the current year. The courts building debt service expense is $1.5 million.

The county’s debt service, and operating budget, is built on a worst-case scenario, Florance noted, and others echoed that in other interviews.

Bruce Beaty, commission precinct 2, said, “We are very conservative on our revenue estimates.”

Net taxable value of property in the county is just over $6.6 billion, six percent above the 2007 certified net taxable total; which is the growth rate on which bond counsel advised the amortization schedule for the courts building tax notes.

Ad valorem tax revenue from that total property value will provide more than $15.5 million to the 2008-09 general fund.

Total general fund revenue is projected in the just-adopted budget at $25 million.

General fund expenses are $2.5 million over that, at $27.7 million, making the general fund a deficit budget. If indeed expenses come in at the projected figures, which has not yet happened in past fiscal years, that difference will come from the fund balance.

Every line item was reviewed, Commissioner David Magness, precinct 4, said. “We took a lot of items out.”

“We addressed the capital needs of the county — most went to the sheriff’s department as always, in new vehicles,” he said.

Another item of impact is technology. The phone upgrades meant upgrades in computers and servers. The library, county courts building and historical courthouse now have wireless connections.

The county services building, which is located on Whitmore, and just purchased this year, is included. Tax notes for its purchase and remodel are $2 million.

“It’s a good budget,” he said.

New hires were limited. “We were pretty hard on new employees and capital items too,” he said.

Wimpee found that the toughest budget decision was not funding additional staffing in the offices of district attorney and county clerk.

“I am proudest of the veterans memorial — a worthy cause,” Magness said, when asked what one of the budget highlights is.

Wimpee and Beaty echoed that. The line item has $500,000 in it. “We have already been told there will be money dontated. It is on a fast trac with the courts building.” He is referring to the courts building location site plan expected to be shown commissioner in the next couple of months. That plan will incorporate the library, the courts building, and the space for the memorial.

Grinnan, in the meeting, said that she strongly believes in the county having such memorial, but does not support the $500,000 being “thrown at the project, with no budget, no cost estimate, and no plan in place to garner donations and federal grants.”

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