Brown County Commissioners met this morning in special session, primarily to hold a public hearing regarding the 2009 tax rate.
County Judge Ray West opened the public hearing with no response from the public or other commissioners. West also spoke about the new budget and stated that they will raise more total property taxes than last years’ budget by $216,919 or 0.42% and of that amount, $199,874 is tax revenue to be raised from new property added to the tax rolls this year. See our previous article about the proposed county budget HERE.
The 2009 tax rate of .5227 per $100 valuation and the 2009/2010 budget will go before the commissioners for approval on September 28th.
District Judge Steve Ellis also came before commissioners to seek approval of a replacement employee for the position of assistant coordinator. He recommended Cheryl Throckmorton for this position.
Also discussed was the funding for this position. The base pay for this position is $24,000 per year according to the budget with the previous employee having been paid $26,250 due to cost of living raises.
Judge Ray West suggested that commissioners look at the budget for pay increases for this position and similar positions. West said, “I strongly recommend we look at it.” Commissioners plan to discuss this before final budget approval later this month.
Commissioners did approve this new employee to begin work on September 28th, but instead of receiving base pay as outlined in the budget, they approved pay that the previous employee was making plus 3% for the expected pay increase for cost of living. This may change when commissioners take up this issue again.
This approval was passed with a split vote as commissioner Joel Kelton voted against it and stated earlier in the meeting that they should approve the position for base pay until the budget is discussed and possibly changed.
Commissioners did unanimously vote to approve the Indigent Defense Grant Program Resolution in the amount of $22,485. This is an annual grant to goes into the general fund, but is spent on legal defense for the indigent.