County Commissioners Discuss 2024 Budget
Fayette County Commissioners spent about two hours last Thursday crunching numbers for next year’s County budget.
The Commissioners Court has not yet made any final decisions about the budget.
Some of the big-ticket items they considered included a pay raise for County employees, radios for the Sheriff’s Office, a covered parking structure for the EMS headquarters and emergency operations center, and repair work for a hump in the runway at the Fayette Regional Air Center.
“No decisions will be made at this time,” County Judge Dan Mueller said to the department heads at the meeting. “We just want to hear what all you are requesting in your budget.”
Airport manager Debra Maddox requested $75,000 to fix the hump in the runway that has troubled pilots for over a decade. The hump will actually cost much more to fix. Maddox hopes to secure a grant from the Texas Department of Transportation to reimburse the County for the repairs, but she said the County would have to pay for the project before seeking reimbursement.
“Until we get this runway hump fixed, we are not going to be able to use federal funds to do anything else at the airport,” Maddox said. “This is part of the grant assurances we signed up for when we received previous federal funding.”
Maddox said cost estimates increased by more than 15 percent over the last nine months.
Pct. 3 Commissioner Harvey Berckenhoff said costs will rise even higher if the County puts off the project any longer.
“It definitely needs to be fixed now,” Berckenhoff said. “Next year, costs are going to go up another 15 percent. We’re in the same business as they are with building roads. Costs are not going to go down anytime soon. We’re going to save money by paying for it now because costs are going up.”
“We already waited too long,” Mueller said.
Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom suggested that the County should solicit bids for the project before the end of the year so that a contractor can schedule the job and possibly complete it before they get busy with other paving work next summer.
The Fayette County Department of Emergency Management requested $40,000 for a covered parking area at the emergency operations center (EOC) and up to $70,000 for 10 new radios for the Sheriff’s Office.
Emergency Management Coordinator Angela Hahn had to leave the meeting before the budget discussions. The EOC is located at the EMS Headquarters in La Grange, and EMS Coordinator Josh Vandever presented the request on behalf of Hahn.
“We have some assets used for emergency response that are stored in other buildings around the County,” Vandever said. “Angela and I have talked a lot about covering the rear row of parking (at the EMS Headquarters) with a metal pole barn-type structure to move some of those assets back there and protect those assets from the elements. As a side benefit, if the EOC is in use, people could park their vehicles out of the elements – a hurricane, tornado, hail or whatever.”
In addition, Vandever said first responders will be required to transition to the new P25 radio communication system by 2025. Fayette County EMS along with several of the local fire departments have already transitioned to the new system.
“The 900 MHz radios that the Sheriff’s Office is predominately using are all going to be obsolete and we won’t be able to use them on the system,” Vandever said. “So Angela is budgeting in the Emergency Management budget for 10 radios.”
Chief Deputy Randy Noviskie said the Sheriff’s Office plans to request funds for additional radios in their budget as well. (Commissioners will hear budget requests from the Sheriff’s Office and EMS at a future meeting.)
“We’re going to start replacing them a little at a time,” Noviskie said.
Commissioners also considered a five percent pay raise for employees in most county departments. They discussed a possible seven percent raise for the EMS Department and Sheriff’s Office.
“I’m hearing from both the Sheriff’s Office and EMS that it’s very hard for them to get personnel, and that maybe we should try to plug in a seven percent raise for them,” said County Auditor Cindy Havelka. “ Mueller said none of the budget items discussed last Thursday were set in stone, including the possible raises.
“This is a preliminary discussion, and we have to start somewhere,” Mueller said.
In other business at Monday’s meeting, Commissioners took the following action:
• Approved the Final Plat from Terry Ward of Heart Field at Round Top subdivision located in Precinct 2;
• Approved the preliminary Plat from Pecan Creek Ranch of Pecan Creek subdivision located in Precinct 4;
• Approved the Final Plat from SBAInvestments Group, Inc. of NearLake Views subdivision located in Precinct 2;
• Recognized the following private road(s), for mapping purposes only: Ilo Ranch Road and Trailer Park Road located in Precinct 2;
• Set the date of Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. for a public hearing concerning the County Clerk Archive Plan for 2024;
• Set the date of Thursday, August 10, 2023 at 9:00 a.m. for a public hearing concerning amending the speed limit on Creamer Creek Road located in Precinct 3;
• Accepted and approved the written plan of Fayette Electric Cooperative, Inc to bore under Von Minden Street (Precinct 1) and place a new 8” water main line to serve Fayette Electric Cooperative, Inc Headquarters; and
• Authorized the following class requests: County Judge Dan Mueller and Guardianship Administrator Tamah Bullock-Thomas to attend the Texas College of Probate Judges Conference August 30 – September 1, 2023 in San Antonio; Linda Svrcek, District Clerk to attend the 2023 County and District Clerks’ Association Annual Fall Conference held on September 1113, 2023 in College Station; Sheriff Keith Korenek, Drug Interdiction Sergeant Randy Thumann and Drug Interdiction Investigator David Smith to attend the Motor Vehicle Criminal Interdiction Conference August 13-15, 2023 in New Orleans, LA (to be paid out of Forfeiture Funds).