Commissioners OK budget with tax rate decrease

Lubbock County Commissioners gave final approval to the county's fiscal year 2018-19 budget Monday, and it includes a tax decrease, funding to study Woodrow Road improvements and outlines over $170 million in total expenses.

Commissioners unanimously approved the budget after brief discussion.

The county’s FY 2018-19 budget beginning Oct. 1 calls for a 1 cent drop in the county’s tax rate. Commissioners adopted a tax rate of 34.8086 cents per $100 property valuation, which is about a penny less than the current rate of 35.8158 cents.

The effective rate is the rate that will yield the same amount of money year-over-year. If the county kept the same tax rate it would have increased the budget about $1.8 million due in part to higher property appraisal values. Employees and elected county officials will not receive raises, and department leaders have been tasked with maintaining a flat budget. The county is not pursuing any capital improvement projects, either.

"This year we asked all the department heads to please tighten up your belt a little tighter this time around, and they did," Commissioner Gilbert Flores said. "That's one of the reasons we were able to lower our tax rate. I think we listened to tax payers - that's what they wanted."

Commissioners Flores and Bill McCay, the only two on the court who will continue after the 2018 elections, including the county judge, led nearly all of the discussions and called the votes Monday.

"I feel good about it," McCay said about the budget. "We're able to do pretty much everything we need to do, and cut the tax rate."

Most of the public debate leading up to the budget's passing was over law enforcement. A decision by county officials to lower the tax rate generally wouldn’t be cause for alarm, but several weeks ago it came under scrutiny when the two Republicans running for county commissioner held a news conference criticizing the decision. Chad Seay and Jason Corley held a news conference to say the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office isn’t getting the funds it needs, and discussed ways to benefit the sheriff’s office if the county kept the current tax rate.

For his office, Sheriff Kelly Rowe said the budget did not include cost-of-living or merit raises, no new personnel and no new capital projects. Rowe said the lack of necessary projects will mean vehicles don’t get replaced, the radio communication project that’s been in the works for several years won’t be completed and video storage equipment and weapons won’t be replaced.

McCay on Monday said funds are still left to complete the radio communication project, and the adopted budget now has funds to replace about 10 vehicles.

"If we can deliver public safety and lower our tax rate so folks can keep more money in their pocket, it's a win-win," said McCay. "At the end of the day, people are going to have more money in their pocket."

For Woodrow Road, the county will receive funds from the Lubbock Metropolitan Planning Organization totaling $2.6 million for the study and designs of widening and improving Woodrow Road from U.S. 87 to Slide Road, and county is budgeting for a 20 percent match of about $520,000.

The budget also has a few line items related to information technology, which commissioners say is for its software services. The county has used Lubbock-based company Ki Corp for software services related to civil and criminal justice software. The current contract runs through September 2019, and McCay said the county is analyzing other potential options.

Commissioners say they're looking for a software that's more integrated, more up to date and more user-friendly.

McCay said this is something the county will be considering throughout the course of this fiscal year.