Curtis Parrish and Jason Corley are roughly $7 million apart on Lubbock County’s next budget.
At a Thursday workshop for the 2024-25 fiscal year, the County Commissioners pondered a $4.7 million shortfall.
County Auditor Kathy Williams recommended the highest possible tax rate without an election to cover the $4.7 million amount. That’s the so-called “voter approval rate.” If commissioners want the “no new revenue” rate, then the shortfall is closer to $12 million.
Corley, Precinct 2 commissioner, told LubbockLights.com he and another commissioner are looking to find $12 million for the lower tax rate.
County Judge Parrish told LubbockLights.com he disagrees with Corley.
“We are at a ‘needs’ budget. We’re not at a ‘wants’ budget,” Parrish said.
The judge plans to push for $4.7 million in cuts – not the $12 million Corley wants. Parrish is convinced folks are willing to pay a higher property tax – about $4.40 per month for the average homeowner – especially for public safety such as more officers for the Sheriff and more employees for the District Attorney.
Much of the potential shortfall comes from different county departments requesting new employees along with equipment and vehicles. They requested 53 and commissioners allowed 42 for now in the budget process (which is roughly $3 million).
During the workshop, Corley said, “We’ve also got $3 million for the new positions that it doesn’t look like we can afford.”
Commissioners also want a 5 percent cost of living adjustment for employees and another 3 percent for merit pay. Elected officials would get a 2 percent cost of living adjustment.
There were four priorities, Corley said – health insurance, employee pay, capital (equipment costing more than $5,000) and hiring new employees.
“So, if you run out of money, start at the bottom of the list,” Corley said.
Sheriff Kelly Rowe also talked to LubbockLights.com about his request for additional money and a big change to his hiring policy.
Quick facts:
- No new revenue rate: 33.4702 cents per $100 of taxable value
- Voter approval rate: 35.8989 cents per $100
- Current tax rate: 37.507 cents per $100
- Average taxable home value 2023: $207,092
- Average taxable home value 2024: $219,455 (up nearly 6 percent)
- Taxable value of Lubbock County: $34.6 billion (up 8.5 percent from a year ago)
- $362 million of tax valuations currently under protest
- Last year’s budget: $345,639,558
New positions (or not)
Commissioners did not reveal the full list of new positions Thursday. But some highlights and examples were given:
- Tax assessor asked for four and three were allowed for now.
- District attorney asked for four employees.
- Two constables asked for deputies. One also requested a clerk.
- Sheriff asked for two patrol officers, four mental health employees, a staff sergeant and new detention officers. The staff sergeant was cut.
- Maintenance department requested six new employees.
Commissioners will visit department directors one by one in the next week or two to look for cuts – which might include requests for new employees.
Corley thinks a few of the new positions are justified. For example, four new positions for the DA would move cases through the court system faster and reduce jail overcrowding.
A clerk and two deputies for the constables are a good idea, Corley thinks. Constables are the ones to enforce evictions.
“Precinct 2 has got the highest amount of evictions that they have ever done,” Corley said.
Corley is skeptical of new positions for the Sheriff when there’s nearly 30 jobs open. Parrish said those open positions are in the jail, not patrol and jail overcrowding has been an issue statewide, not just Lubbock.
“We have no vacant positions in the patrol division right now. They’re full,” Parrish said.
Rowe said, “We’re a large agency. We’re always going to have vacancies.” The Sheriff’s Department has about 500 employees.
But even then, Rowe understood the concern and made a change this year. (See the section on hiring 18-year-olds below.)
Some of Rowe’s requested budget pays to guard hospitalized inmates.
“I can walk in almost on any given day to the jail administrator’s office, and he’s got six to eight inmates out at the hospital. And we did not staff for that,” Rowe said.
Parrish said, “The money is available. We just have to decide where we want to cut. Do we want three more motor graders, or do we want two new deputies?”
Parrish also defended the need for four mental health officers at the jail.
“I will not cut this budget at the expense of public safety, and I will not cut this budget at the expense of the employees of Lubbock County. But any other budget cuts that you want to bring to me, I’m perfectly willing to look at,” Parrish said.
“No new positions at all – zero on all new positions – well, that’s not really feasible,” Parrish added.
Some jobs cannot be cut even if the position has been open for a while. Parrish said state law requires a minimum number of jailers depending on the number of inmates.
Other jobs could be cut if the position stays vacant for a year or more.
“We’re doing that very thing,” Parrish said.
Pay raises and healthcare
Pay raises for roughly 1,200 employees are a high priority and will keep employees from leaving, Corley said.
“Our attrition rates when I got here were 14 percent. “We’re now at about 8 percent. We’re moving in the right direction. We’re keeping better people longer and being able to provide a better service to the county that way,” he added.
Precinct 3 Commissioner Gilbert Flores said during the workshop, “I’d much rather see the new positions cut instead of the salary cut.”
The county wants salaries to be a little more even across the various departments.
“We’re trying to move to more of a merit-based system. That’s why I’ve been fighting so hard to get the employee compensation and hiring policy. … It’ll stop the pay disparities where you’ve got some departments that are giving pay raises like it’s going out of style. You got some that don’t give out a nickel and then wonder why they can’t keep staff,” Corley said.
Healthcare costs are expected to go down just a little this coming year, he said.
Auditor Williams said in the workshop that employees pay 3 percent for their health insurance and Lubbock County pays the other 97 percent. However, it’s a high deductible plan.
“The county will contribute $1,700 to each employee’s HSA this year,” Williams said.
HSA is a health savings account, which gets certain tax benefits. It can be used for certain healthcare costs like unmet deductibles.
Corley says the HSAs will save the county money in the long run.
“If you have health insurance but you still can’t afford to go to the doctor because you can’t afford the deductible, then you don’t go to the doctor for the little stuff. You wait until it’s big stuff and then it’s extremely expensive,” Corley said.
Other places to cut
Corley gave a few examples of places to cut the budget.
By not hiring as many new people, there are also fewer vehicles and other new equipment to purchase. There might be some construction and renovation projects that could get cut, he said.
Corley also said the Sheriff’s Office would like roughly 30 new patrol units. Corley wants to substitute Chevy Tahoes (SUVs) with Ford pickup trucks, saying it would save about $600,000.
The Sheriff disagreed.
“The SUV is a better option across the board,” Rowe said. “I’ll be the first to admit they have gotten more expensive.”
However, the pickups, he said, do not come fully ready. By the time changes are made, the cost difference is lower and the SUVs do a better job.
“I made a decision. This was the best thing for us to use for our first responders, primarily patrol. Everywhere else in the department, given the number of vehicles we order every year, we’ve gone to lesser expensive options,” Rowe said.
His total fleet is “close to” 160 vehicles, he said.
“The rest of our fleet … It’s pickup trucks. It’s Toyotas. It’s Durangos,” Rowe said.
‘They understand’
Parrish said, “Three of the last five years we’ve gone to the voters and said, ‘Can we raise your taxes to give you this good government?’ And three of the last five years they’ve said, ‘Yes,’ overwhelmingly.”
Parrish mentioned a 2019 road bond for $99 million, a 2021 proposition for pay at the Sheriff’s Office, and in 2023 a $35 million bond to pay for a new Medical Examiner’s office
“So, to come back now even less than a year after the voter said, ‘It’s OK, you can raise our taxes to pay for this medical examiner’s office,’ to come back and say, ‘They don’t want to raise their taxes,’ it is really dishonest,” Parrish said.
The people of Lubbock County want good government, Parrish said.
“They understand that good government comes at a price. My job is to make sure that price is as low as possible,” Parrish added.
Not everyone agrees.
In July, during a public comment period at a Commissioners Court meeting, six people spoke out against any potential increase in the property tax rate.
“We actually are one of the lowest taxing entities in the state of Texas,” Parrish responded. “We are the 18th largest county in the state. So, we are one of the largest counties with one of the lowest tax rates.”
Hiring 18-year-olds
“We’ve made a big change in not so much how we hire, but who we’re hiring,” Rowe said about the jail. “We have been testing 18-year-olds, and it’s been working out for us.”
The minimum age had been 21. Rowe said he was skeptical at first, but other counties have tried this same idea.
“We didn’t just make a blanket change and say … ‘Let the chips fall,’” Rowe said. “Today we can hire your son at 18, but we wouldn’t put him directly in the security. We would put him more into, we call it an entry-level officer’s position. Easiest way I can describe it, it’s more clerical. They don’t have direct contact with the inmates.”
Rowe said an 18-year-old can serve in the military, and so far, the younger hires have shown maturity.
“We’re missing all these young folks coming out of high school because by the time they turn 21, they figured out what they’re going to do in life,” Rowe said.
“It is really starting to bring down our attrition counts,” Rowe said.
Changing the process?
Corley also said he’d like to change the process.
“The department heads are just turning in basically a wish list. ‘Hey, here’s everything I could possibly want.’ … That’s a terrible way of doing it.” he said, adding he would like department heads to present a flat budget from the previous year and then discuss additions.
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