Taxing entities propose rates
By Melinda L. Lucas
A budget of a little over $2.9 million was proposed at Monday night’s meeting of Shackelford County Hospital District directors, even though the board plans another meeting next Monday, Aug. 24 to trim expenses down to meet that amount.
After a couple of hours spent working through the line items in the district portion of the budget, directors postponed work on the clinic budget because of time constraints, choosing to set a special meeting at 4:30 p.m. next Monday to continue working on the numbers.
The $2,913,280 proposed budget, which includes the ambulance service and district-owned pharmacy, is based on the “no-new-revenue” (NNR) tax rate of 20.05 cents.
The NNR rate, which until this year was known as the effective tax rate, is the number needed to raise the same amount of total tax dollars as the previous year based on the same taxable property.
The 20.05 rate is higher than last year’s actual rate of 18.81 cents, which supported an original 2020 budget of $2,918,930, almost exactly the same as the figure being proposed for 2021.
With a proposed “no-new-revenue” rate, the hospital district will not be required to hold a public hearing.
The directors plan to adopt both the budget and the tax rate at their regular meeting on Sept. 21.
Other Business
•After a 30-minute closed session, board members voted to freeze wages for all employee of Shackelford County Hospital District, with increases to be “revisited” at a later date.
•The purchase of a -COVID testing machine for the clinic was approved at a cost of $22,000. The equipment is expected to arrive in September, with guidelines for testing to be set at that time.
•EMS director Tina Ulbrich reported that the new Lucas 3 chest compression system for the ambulance service had arrived and will be demonstrated at an upcoming Chamber of Commerce meeting.
•The board election, which was postponed from the original date in May, was called for Nov. 3, coinciding with the general election.
•Pharmacist Eric Neal reported the sales were down for last month, typical for July.
•Jacob Cleveland asked the directors to consider his services for pest control and agreed to submit prices for the clinic and EMS station before the September meeting.
•EMS employee Chad Roberts asked the board to consider funding his paramedic training. The request will be included on the September agenda.
•The board met with their legal counsel by uber-conference on Aug. 11 concerning the district’s criminal investigation and EMS “drug diversion” cases, but no action was taken.
