By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
County commissioners court members are set to approve the proposed county budget on Aug. 31 following a special budget workshop Monday.
County Judge Lewis G. Owens Jr. opened the workshop session by briefly reviewing some changes to individual line items throughout the budget.
Following the short summary, County Commissioner Pct. 3 Beau Nettleton made a motion to approve the changes indicated by the judge, with County Commissioner Pct. 2 Juan Carlos Vazquez giving the second. The court unanimously approved the motion.
Owens also asked for the addition of a Clerk I position in the sheriff’s office should it be needed to help process cases more quickly.
Nettleton again made a motion to approve the addition of the position with County Commissioner Pct. 4 Gustavo “Gus” Flores giving the second. The motion was unanimously approved.
Owens then brought up another area where more funds may be needed.
“We have a county that’s next to us (whose commissioners court) is wanting to do an order to (prohibit) the transportation of immigrants through their county. We’ve had two discussions with them, but they won’t listen,” the judge said.
When Nettleton asked what county, the judge replied, “Kinney County,” and when the commissioner asked what the neighboring commissioners court wanted to prohibit, County Attorney David Martinez replied, “To keep non-COVID tested migrants from being transported through their county.”
“That would put a huge burden on our county, if we were the ones that had to do it (COVID tests) in order to transport (migrants), and I don’t think they have the authority to do it,” Owens said.
Martinez also pointed out Kinney County arrestees were being processed in Val Verde County.
“I just wanted to make sure that the attorneys’ fees we already have in our budget could be used in case we need to hire attorneys to – for lack of a better term – go after them and explain to them that they’re wrong,” Owens said.
The consensus was that the funds could be used for that purpose.
Nettleton and County Clerk Generosa “Janie” Gracia-Ramon spent some time discussing funding for the 2022 election cycle.
After that, Nettleton initiated a discussion of the travel and training expenses included in the proposed budget, which he said totaled $477,683 for all county departments.
“That’s a lot of money,” the commissioner said, adding he would like the departments to use any other funds available to them, such as state grants for training, before they dip into the county’s general fund monies.
At the end of his discussion, Nettleton made a motion that all departments with special funds use their travel and training first for the legal applications that they are for before general fund money is touched. Flores gave the second, and the motion was approved unanimously.
Toward the end of the meeting, Owens also announced there is a committee discussing how to use the American Recovery Plan monies allocated to the county. He said the committee would come back to commissioners court with recommendations, adding there will be a chance for public input as well.
The county budget is set to be approved by the court during an Aug. 31 commissioners court session.
—
Contact the author at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
