Monday’s commissioner’s court had a larger than usual audience as the majority of the people present were interested in the public hearing on the 2016 Budget.  What was listed as “item 2” on the Agenda, Public Hearing on the Budget, actually ended up encompassing items 2, 3, 4, 5, & 6:

  1. PUBLIC HEARING ON BUDGET
  2. Discussion regarding effective tax rate and revenues and action as appropriate.
  3. Consideration and possible action to set proposed salaries and allowances for county officials.
  4. Consideration and possible action to adopt a proposed tax rate and schedule public hearings as needed.
  5. Consideration and possible action to adopt and approve final Budget of Austin County, Texas for Fiscal Year

The public was supposed to only be able to speak on item two and then the public part was to be closed.  But, the meeting was run a little more casual with the public being allowed to interject questions and comments during every step of the discussion process with the commissioners.  Judge Tim Lapham made the comment that as long as things stayed civil he had no issue with the public taking part.  The 5 items on the agenda encompassed two hours and forty four minutes of time to finish.  It’s not possible to write an article that could describe that length of a meeting.  But, we have the entire exchange on video below for you to watch.  We also have the paperwork that the commissioners were reviewing available for download for you to follow along with:  ADJUSTED TAXABLE VALUE

If you would like to download a copy of the updated proposed budget for 2015-2016 click HERE

One additional item of clarification, Judge Tim Lapham clarified that the reason for the large deficit in the budget is due to the debt obligations the county undertook several years ago that was spent on roads.  The bonds payment structure changed causing the deficit the county is currently facing.  Judge Lapham explains this in the video.