Hays County judge proposes 2021 budget

Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra presented his fiscal year 2021 recommended county budget of $315,320,579 to the Hays County Commissioners Court on July 28.

“As our country faces the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have recommended a lean budget that focuses on core essential services with a slight tax rate reduction to offer tax relief to our citizens,” Becerra said.

Initial budget requests submitted by staff and elected officials to Becerra were in excess of $21.4 million. Reductions to operating budgets and reducing any requested staffing changes were needed to help balance the budget to 41.87 cents per $100 valuation of property.

Some highlights of the Judge’s recommended budget include:

Tax Rate

Balanced budget reducing Tax Rate to .4187 (FY20 Adopted Rate .4237)

Operating Budgets

Requests reduced to current budget (exception for new programs)

No new or replacement vehicle leases (exception 1 for OES dept)

Capital Assets

$486,000 – WestNet Fire/ EMS CAD Program

$80,000 – Waterline Improvements for Jail

$90,000 – Software/Hardware Programs for Various Depts moved to Tobacco Settlement Fund

Personnel (includes fringe)

$1.5M – Salary Market Increases for Law Enforcement positions per Collective

Bargaining Agreement

$687,000 – 2% COLA for Employees and Dept. Heads (excludes Elected Officials)

$715,000 – New Positions for expansion of Jail Operations

The court also set three public budget workshops for: August 11, at 10 a.m., August 18, at 10 a.m. and August 25 at 1 p.m., which will be livestreamed and archived at hayscountytx. com/commissioners-court/ court-video/.

The Judge’s recommended budget and related financial information is available through the financial transparency icon on the county’s website at hayscountytx. com (once you click that icon, scroll down to the FY 2021 Budget Planning section under Auditor’s Reports).