The Hockley County Commissioners held a budget workshop meeting Thursday afternoon in the Hockley County Courthouse focusing on the local fire agreement, county jail and commissioner expenses.
The current fire service agreement between Hockley County and the City of Levelland has been an on-going discussion as the Levelland City Council posed questions about rising costs of fuel and inflation.
Coming back to the discussion on the end of the county, Hockley County Judge Sharla Baldridge began the discussion with explaining the process in which the agreement was ready for approval or further discussion.
In addition to those discussions, it was explained that the city sent the agreement with an amendment for an inflation factor that could be revisited at the end of the fiscal year. The adjustment could be up or could go down at the end of the first 12 months, and the city’s plan is to adjust rates on an inflation index for that number.
The process will begin without an inflation adjustment in its first year and will take affect October 1st, 2024, based on the cost of runs.
Several questions were posed about the inflation adjustment and how clear-cut the process would be. The item itself was tabled with more discussion desired between both entities.
Moving into the next item was discussions with Hockley County Sheriff Ray Scifres regarding improvements to the jail for updating shower pans, cameras and an updated jail intercom system. Sheriff Scifres has stated on several occasions that the intercom system, which is required by state jail standards, is more than overdue for replacement. Those funds will be allocated out of capital improvement accounts.
Commissioner Alan Wisdom explained to the group that he is seeking a slight increase to his budget to deal with some repair work and some tire replacement. Commissioner Larry Carter suggested that $50,000 each would go into individual precinct numbers accounts to address these kinds of issues. It was also suggested that the money could be shuffled back into the other funds by budget amendments in the future.
The focus of the court was shifted toward the money incoming from the State of Texas based on the new law enforcement grants under SB 22.
Judge Baldridge explained she will be attending a discussion on how other counties are handling that system and how the money will be handled.
In order to qualify for those funds, the sheriff’s salary would need to be increased to $75,000, which does not include paying for extra staffing and equipment, each department can also raise annual salaries for its employees. The law takes effect September 1st.
The first draft the budget must be filed by July 31st and August 21st is the projected date for the county to get their budget drafted, issue public notices and take public comments on the 2023-24 budget.