County Putting Finishing Touches on $28 Million Budget for Next Year

Next year’s Fayette County Budget will include a deficit after all.

Fayette County Commissioners Court finalized the 2023 County Budget at their meeting Thursday, Sept. 8. They’ve been working on the budget since June. The $28 million-plus budget they officially proposed on Aug. 11 included a roughly $270,000 deficit. In the two weeks that followed, County leaders recalculated the budget after shaving some expenses, resulting in a slight surplus of about $41,000.

At last Thursday’s meeting, County Auditor Cindy Havelka said she discovered some expenses that had not been accounted for in the previous budget numbers. She said most of those expenses were health insurance costs for some new staff positions that Commissioners had authorized.

After running the numbers one final time, projected revenues for next year came in at $28,416,904.44 with projected expenses at $28,772,095.26. That leaves a deficit of $355,190.82. The County will cover the red ink with a fund balance that’s projected to stand at just over $5 million when the budget year starts on Jan. 1, 2023.

The complete budget is available on the home page of the County’s website, http://cofayette. tx.us.

The bulk of the County’s revenue comes from property taxes – an estimated $18.78 million in next year’s budget (compared to $16.36 million this year). That amounts to a 14.8 percent increase in property taxes. Commissioners actually lowered the tax rate next year from the current rate of $0.464 per $100 of taxable property to $0.44219. That was the highest they could have set it without triggering an election. Commissioners held a public hearing on the tax rate at Thursday’s meeting. “I feel very good about the budget this year,” said Pct. 1 Commissioner Jason McBroom. “We have made it more transparent in breaking down some of the departments so we can show the public where the money is going. We’re getting better at that. I feel confident about next year’s budget.” “I was able to observe the process this year and I feel the court did a good job at deliberating all of those difficult decisions,” said William Bersen, a surveyor from Plum who ran for County Judge in the Republican Primary this year. “I’d like to see next year, any talk of salary increases or benefit increases should also include an analysis of all the overtime and all the benefits so we can get a picture of the overall benefit package. I think that’s pretty critical going forward.” One of the major expenses in next year’s budget is a three percent raise for all County employees.

Total expenses in the 2023 budget grew 7 percent over the current budget and nearly 17 percent over the actual expenses from 2021. Commissioners blamed much of the rising expenses on the exploding cost of fuel and road building supplies. The four road and bridge departments make up about 26 percent of all County spending. Fayette County EMS and the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office are the two costliest departments in the County budget. Expenses for the EMS Department jumped more than 11 percent in the new budget. A big part of that increase will cover the costs of opening a new station in Round Top. Earlier this year Commissioners authorized the new station. The move is aimed at lowering response times to wrecks on US 290 and other medical emergencies in that faraway corner of the County.

Expenses in the Sheriff’s Office topped $4 million for the first time – a roughly 9.5 percent increase over this year. When combined with the Justice Center, the Sheriff’s total expenses are projected at more than $5.4 million next year. That puts Sheriff Keith Korenek in charge of more money than any other elected official in the County.

Some of the Sheriff’s increases will pay for special employee raises. Commissioners authorized Korenek to raise the wages of dispatchers and jailers in order to attract and maintain staff in those hard-to-fill positions. Korenek also anticipated higher fuel costs next year. The Sheriff’s fuel budget more than doubled – from $165,000 this year to $350,000 next year.