Special meetings set to discuss budget

By Melinda L. Lucas

Directors of the Shackelford County Hospital District met Monday, Aug. 21 with budget and tax rate action items on the agenda, but they ended up scheduling two special sessions with the expectation of proposing both a budget and tax rate by at least Sept. 11.

Board member Jason Price suggested working on the numbers on Wednesday, Aug. 28 at 5:00 p.m. and again at the same time on Sept. 6 if needed. The directors will also consider employee evaluations, as well as the nurse practitioner contracts, to see how those figure into the budget.

Required notices must be published within a certain time line before adoption of the budget and tax rate, with a deadline of Sept. 30.

There was no discussion of a tax rate at the Aug. 21 session, but the No New Revenue (NNR) rate for the district is 18.11 cents per $100 valuation, according to Shackelford County chief appraiser Clayton Snyder. That is less than last year’s actual tax rate of 19.24 cents.

Vacant Seat

Longtime EMS employee Annette Harris, now retired, was present at the meeting to ask that she be considered for the vacant board seat.

Debbie Hamilton was also present, stating that she was interested but just sitting in to learn.

A tie vote and an abstention resulted in tabling any decision.

Other Business

•The $12,000 annual contract with Air Evac was approved.

•A standard billing rate for special events was discussed, but there was no action.

•A quote for $850 to replace the remaining 13 fluorescent units at the clinic with LED lights was also approved. The LED units are already on hand and have been being replaced as needed.