Jason Corley (left), Curtis Parrish (center) and Jordan Rackler (right) – images from social media campaign sites
Has the embattled county budget process devolved into retaliation or giving the people what they want? Depends on who you ask – and we did.
Updated story link: Move to deprive two commissioners of county credit cards put off, budget battle continues
Commissioners Jason Corley and Jordan Rackler are not expected to attend a Lubbock County Commissioners meeting until after the end of the month – forcing a lower tax rate they say their constituents want.
County Judge Curtis Parrish said the commissioners are avoiding doing their job.
“I’ve got two commissioners that have decided not to come to work to break quorum, to do what the Democrats did last summer and running and hiding in Washington, D.C. to try to affect legislation,” Parrish said.
Tension increased since the pair avoided the August 26 budget meeting.
Parrish said this forces budget cuts he hoped to avoid.
“When I say it grieves me, I’m telling you, it really does. I’m grieved to my bones,” Parrish said.
Cuts include parks, roads and clubhouses in Precincts 2 and 4 – the ones represented by Corley and Rackler. They may also lose access to their county credit cards on Monday.
“Our projects in [precincts] 2 and 4 – road and bridge – got cut,” Rackler said, calling it and the credit cards retaliation.
“If it’s only the two that walked out, how is it not?” Rackler asked.
Parrish said, “This is not retaliation, but conservative fiscal budgeting.”
“They’ve clearly said that, ‘My constituents want these cuts.’ So, we’re just going to oblige their constituents and give them the cuts that they’re asking for. Now, they’ve also said we only want essential services. We don’t want you to cut essential services and I agree,” Parrish said.
Parrish said the non-essentials get cut in Corley and Rackler’s precincts (Northwest and Southeast Lubbock County).
It’s too late to make a deal, Rackler said.
“I said I was willing to negotiate on the tax rate at first,” Rackler said, but claims the judge and the other two commissioners – Terrance Kovar and Gilbert Flores – tried to shove the higher tax rate through by force.
“And so now my answer is ‘no.’ We will go ‘no new revenue.’ Period. And that’s where we’re going to go with it,” Rackler said, adding he tried to persuade Parrish plenty of folks do not want the higher tax rate, saying he showed Parrish text messages from voters.
“That was when he said, ‘Well, are you gonna listen to those crazy kooks, or are you gonna show up and do your job?’”
That’s why people wore T-shirts to the August 26 meeting with the words, “Crazy kooks against tax increases,” Rackler said.
Parrish explains ‘not retaliation’
“If we don’t pass a tax rate by September the 30th, which is the last day of our fiscal year, then the tax rate automatically reverts to the lower of either the last year’s tax rate or the ‘no new revenue’ rate. So, in Lubbock County’s case, the lower would be ‘no new revenue,’” Parrish said.
The “no new revenue rate” is meant to reduce the burden of higher property tax values each year. There’s also a slightly higher “voter approval rate” which, as the name implies, is the highest the county can go without voter approval.
Parrish wants the higher amount, which works out to a little more than $50 per year for the average homeowner.
“The question becomes if we have to cut approximately 7-and a-half to $8 million out of that budget, where do we cut it from? Quote-unquote my constituents want tax cuts. Well, I need to also assume that they want budget cuts as well because you can’t have one without the other. And if Commissioner 2 and Commissioner 4’s constituents want budget cuts, then I’m going to oblige that and give them budget cuts. I’ll have no choice,” Parrish said.
Parrish is not pushing for cuts to essential services like the Sheriff’s Department or volunteer fire departments. But not everything is essential, he said.
“We’re not mandated to fund things like parks and clubhouses and those type of things. So, if Precinct 4’s constituents want their parks and clubhouses cut then we’re going to oblige,” Parrish said.
The credit cards
As for the county credit cards (which are also called purchase cards), Parrish said those are used for the county clubhouses. A clubhouse is just another name for a community center.
An item on the agenda for Monday said, “Discuss, consider and/or take action to suspend, until further notice, the use of the county purchasing cards by Commissioner Jason Corley and Commissioner Jordan Rackler.”
“If those clubhouses are defunded, because that is what those constituents want, then the ability to buy things outside the county’s purchasing policy is suspended,” Parrish said.
Corley and Rackler disagreed.
“The county credit card in the possession of each commissioner and the county judge is used for any and all county expenses,” Corley said.
Rackler uses his card when he is asked to pick up things the county had printed at the City of Lubbock print shop. Corley uses his more often – sometimes to pay for things like park maintenance.
“The advantage to using the credit card is that I can use less expensive contractors and get better bids to save the taxpayer money because I can pay as soon as the job is complete, and they don’t have to wait on their money,” Corley added.
The cards are part of the consent agenda which is a group of items that can be approved together as one group without debate.
Avoiding the meetings
Both Rackler and Corley said this has been done before, not only in Lubbock County in 2019 but also other places.
“I’ve got commissioners from other counties calling me … saying we’re about to do the same thing because we’re dealing with the same mess,” Corley said.
His advice to officials from three other counties is for them to tell their fellow commissioners, the public and the media up front. No secrets.
Rackler said the support has been in favor of forcing the lower tax rate.
“I have got over 500 people and actually I quit counting at 500,” Rackler said.
By contrast, he said 11 people urged him to show up at the meetings and give the Commissioners Court a quorum.
‘It’s part of the rules’
Corley said, “The legislature, they wrote the rules that we have to play by. And I’m happy to play by them.”
“You need to have four members present. That makes good sense to me as to why the law was set by way by the state way back when,” Corley added. The law requires a supermajority to at least be present for the tax rate.
Making a football reference, Corley said, “Some people don’t like on-side kicks, but you know what? It’s part of the rules.”
When asked why the law sets a higher quorum for the county to set a tax rate, Parrish answered, “I don’t know why the Legislature did that.”
Parrish was asked if he wants to lobby lawmakers to change the rules.
“I have not gotten that far in my conversations with any of the state representatives or the state senator,” he said.
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