County approves premium pay
By Melinda L. Lucas
Shackelford County commissioners continued reviewing the budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year that starts Oct. 1 and got their first look at tax rate options during a meeting on Monday.
In addition to budget concerns, elected officials spent some time looking at options for using part of funding received through the American Rescue Plan Act for “premium pay” for employees and discussing a request for help from Moran mayor Tyler George.
Premium Pay
County judge Robert Skelton presented a couple of different proposals for awarding “premium pay,” which has been a subject of discussion in several meetings over the past year.
He suggested giving each of the 40 full-time employees either $1,200 or $1,000 in premium pay, with part-time employees receiving pro-rated amounts.
“I would like to see it given as a percentage of the salary (over the last year) instead of a flat amount,” said commissioner Lanham Martin, adding that a percentage might be more fair for workers who have been with the county longer.
During the discussion, Martin and commissioner Ace Reames both stated that several county residents had commented to them that they would rather see the ARPA funds used for infrastructure.
Skelton clarified that about $385,000 of the $634,188 in “rescue” funds had already been “obligated” to projects such as the Courthouse parking lot.
“The final rules about ARPA funds broadens the share of workers who can receive premium pay,” said Skelton. “All of ours should be eligible under that bulletpoint.”
He added that federal guidelines allow the pay to be retroactive, but Texas law does not.
Commissioner Cody Jordan stated that in order to be legal, the premium pay must be included in the budget.
After a lengthy discussion, Jordan made a motion to approve premium pay for $1,200 plus pro-rated amounts for part-time employees, for a total expenditure of just under $50,000. Steve Riley and Skelton voted in favor, and the motion passed on a split 3-2 vote, with Martin and Reames in opposition.
Budget Options
Commissioners went through the latest draft of their 2022-2023 budget that included a five percent across-the-board increase for county employees.
A previous draft had calculations for a three percent increase, but Skelton asked that the court “move forward with the five percent pay raise.”
The adjusted tax values for the county this year are $575,774,338, causing the “No New Revenue” NNR rate to drop to 54.04 cents for maintenance and operations (M&O) from this year’s actual M&O rate of 59.20 cents.
The M&O rate will be added to the county’s interest and sinking levy to service the Law Enforcement Center bond, which is calculated at 6.65 cents.
Although no action was taken in this meeting to propose a budget amount or tax rate, Skelton noted that he had asked chief appraiser Clayton Snyder to calculate numbers at an “alternate” rate of 57.00, which is still below the “Voter Approval” rate of 60.54. Estimated revenue at a 97.5 percent collection rate would be $3,363.940.
“This is middle ground that gets us in the ballpark of what I think we’ll need to take care of mandates and the salary increases we want to give,” said Skelton.
Added to the I&R rate, the amount the Skelton is recommending totals 63.65 cents, compared with this year’s tax rate of 65.06.
The commissioners plan to meet again Monday, Aug. 29 to continue working and possibly propose a budget and tax rate.
Junk Problem
Moran mayor Tyler George met the elected officials, asking if the sheriff’s department could help enforce junk vehicles and nuisance ordinances within the Moran city limits, referring to an interlocal agreement between the city and county that dates back a couple of decades.
For about a year, a company has been bringing 50 to 100 junk vehicles each month to a vacant lot, then crushes them at night without taking fluids out, according to George.
The company has not responded to numerous contacts by the city.
Even if the company is fined through the JP office, sheriff Ed Miller said, Class C misdemeanor fines would only be about $500 and might not deter them.
County attorney Rollin Rauschl advised George on how Moran might proceed.
Parking Lot Contract
Chris Ary of CM3 Construction presented requested changes in the contract for the parking lot project, which were approved.
