The Hockley County Commissioners’ Court approved the interlocal agreement between Hockley County and Johnson County concerning the order changing venue in the Hockley County case entitled State of Texas vs. Omar Soto-Chavira.
Johnson County will house the prisoner during the trial which is expected to last two to three months. Costs such as medical expenses will be paid by Johnson County and refunded by Hockley County.
The Court approved Ad Valorem tax refunds for 2020, 2021 and 2022. The Court also approved the regular meeting minutes from June 12 at 9 a.m. and June 12 at 9:30 a.m.; all monthly bills and claims submitted to the court dated through June 19 and approved the monthly reports submitted by the Hockley County district clerk, county clerk, county auditor and Justice of the Peace Precincts one, two, four and five.
After adjourning the regular meeting held at 9 a.m., the court conducted another meeting to hold a budget workshop.
County Judge Sharla Baldridge, the district clerk’s office, the tax collector’s office, Justice of the Peace, Precinct five and the Hockley County Library did not request additional funding from the previous 2023 budget hearing.
The Court approved an additional $6,000 for the Sheriff’s Office equipment and $10,000 for vehicle maintenance.
The Court discussed the 2024 Hockley County Jail budget but did not approve it due to do having rough estimates instead of accurate pricing. The budget request included an intercom system quoted at over $200,000, six additional cameras, a $90,000 increase for the housing budget, a $1,000 increase for the training budget and a $4,000 phone instillation.
The court approved a $1,000 increase from $11,000 to $12,000 for the District Attorney’s supplies budget. The court also requested Angela Overman to submit the estimated expenses for the State of Texas vs. Omar Soto-Chavira case beginning September 16, 2024 and discussed the unused $20,000 in the other court expenses budget. It was determined that this was used for expert witnesses and other expenses that would be expected during trials.
The elections office requested an additional $8,000 for supplies, an additional $4,600 for voter registration expenses, an additional $6,700 for autosmart maintenance and an additional $1,600 for printing services. The largest additional expense will be election workers which will almost double the current budget for election workers due to the recent House Bill 1217 signed by Gov. Abbott.
The Hockley County extension office requested $7,500 for ag-agent travel, but were approved for $6,500. The 4H travel allowance was also approved for $6,500, the equipment operations was approved for $12,000 and the supplies was increased $1,500 to purchase two computers.
The Court discussed creating a line item for the Sheriff’s Department to cover jail maintenance due to plumbing and appliance expenses.
In the previous budget meeting, CTSI explained the cost will be increased to match inflation prices since there has not been an increase since 2019. The court discussed the annual 4% increase that was not applied to Hockley County would be less than matching the rate of inflation and found there were two increases for services and security since 2019. Overall, the budget would be increased 30%.
The court also discussed increased usage with the buy board to ensure the lowest prices possible for county expenses.