County proposes tax increase

Colorado County citizens may see an increase in their county tax bills following Monday's Colorado County Commissioners Court meeting.

During the Aug. 11 meeting, commissioners approved a proposed tax increase rate of .449 per $100 evaluation. This is an increase from the current .43 tax rate.

Included in the rate is .27809 for general, .02891 for interest and sinking and .14200 for road and bridge.

The county's rollback rate is .44947. The rollback rate provides a taxing unit approximately the same amount of tax revenue it spent the previous year for day-to-day operations plus an extra eight percent cushion and sufficient funds to pay its debts in the coming year.

This is estimated to bring in $7,451,112 in revenue for the county, according to county auditor reports.

County auditor Raymie Kana said the county would still have to pull $1.1 million from the reserve budget to balance the 2009 budget.

During the meeting the certified appraisal roll for the county was announced as $1,659,490,327.

Public hearing dates regarding the proposed tax rate were set for Monday, Aug. 25 at 9:15 a.m. and Thursday, Aug. 28 at 10 a.m. Both meetings will take place at the courthouse.

Elected officials salaries

Relating to the budget, the 2009 proposed salaries of elected officials brought some debate Monday morning.

During public comments, citizen Margie Raborn addressed the court restating her disapproval of the salary increases and also addressed merit raises.

"I've talked to others about merit raises and they have said they would never do it again because instead of basing it on merit department heads would just give merit raises across the board or even worse it would go to the friend of a department head," said Raborn. "I'd like to see the court take off the merit raises."

Citizen Bob Berger followed, stating he felt this was a positive move by the court.

"I've always felt people in county offices were underpaid," said Berger.

He continued to give statistics, which included the cost of living compared to a county employees income.

Following comments, Colo-rado County Judge Al Jamison countered Raborn's remarks.

"I've listened to you whine and complain for 10 years and I'm tired of it," said Judge Jamison. "There is no Camelot. You live in one of the best rural communities in Texas."

Judge Jamison told the Raborn's he was speaking to them as an individual, not an official.

Following public comments, commissioner Hahn addressed longetivity pay.

"I've thought about this long and hard," said commissioner Hahn. "I have a real problem asking the voters to support me every four years then turn around and give myself a longetivity raise. This morning I do not support the longevity raise."

Commissioner Hahn stressed that this was strictly his personal feelings and he had not been contacted by or contacted anyone else regarding the issue.

Following discussion a motion was made by Judge Jamison to approve the 2009 elected officials salary schedule as presented excluding the longevity pay. The motion was seconded by commissioner Hahn and passed in a unanimous vote.

Kana said the removal of longevity pay would be approximately $15,500 added back to the budget.

Four-day work week

Commissioner Hahn opened discussion regarding the proposed four-day work week.

"Everyone knows I'm opposed to a four-day work week and the courthouse being closed on Friday," said commissioner Hahn. "I was told commissioners have no say and I can't live with that so I have asked for an up and down vote by commissioners of whether the courthouse remains open five days a week."

An excerpt from David Brooks three-volume set of law books entitled "Texas Practice Series, County and Special District Law" was handed out during court and read that there is no statue of general applicability requiring that offices be open to the public during certain hours.

However, it goes on to say that common practice is to make the offices available 8 a.m. -5 p.m. on weekdays.

Regarding public officials, Brooks states "the commissioner court has only the authority to adopt a budget, authorize the employment of deputies and assistants and assign office space within the courthouse and county buildings."

At this time offices that plan to stay open on Friday, according to Judge Jamison, include the judge's office, treasurer and auditor. Offices considering some form of the four-day work week include county attorney, county clerk and tax-assessor collector office.

In other business the court